Smuggling by tunnel goes legit in Gaza

Conduit to the outside world
Egypt is aware of the Hamas involvement but so far has not made it a central issue in its contacts with the Gaza rulers. It denies allegations that Egyptian officials are involved in the smuggling.

The tunneling dates to the 1980s, when Israel returned the Sinai Desert to Egypt, and intensified after Hamas seized power in 2007, provoking Israel and Egypt to cut the Gaza Strip off from the outside world. Smugglers increasingly brought in consumer goods, along with weapons, and now work openly, as a recent visit to one site demonstrated.

Motorized pulleys hummed, trucks rumbled across the bumpy terrain to pick up merchandise coming from Egypt, and foreman Abu Nafez took a visitor inside one of the tents to show a vertical shaft that went down 35 feet, then headed half a mile southwest, under the border and into Egypt.

Abu Nafez, a 33-year-old former cabdriver who declined to give his full name, said he now earns enough to feed his seven children and even save money, though his knees are swollen from crawling in cold, damp soil.

Hamas inspectors are notified of each delivery and check it on site, he said.

Tunnels, dug with electrical drills, are just high enough to enable workers to move on all fours.

Abu Nafez said his tunnel was dug a little over a year ago. Eventually, he said, the owner was told he had to obtain a permit from the municipality of Rafah, the nearest Gaza town. The owner complied and the tunnel now receives power from the local electricity company, which even installed a meter.

45 tunnel workers killed
Municipal officials confirmed they supervise tunnel operations.

Forty-five tunnel workers have been killed this year in accidents or in Egyptian anti-smuggling operations, so last month Hamas summoned owners and ordered them "to take action to protect their employees," according to Ghussen of the Interior Ministry.

Participants in the meeting said owners were asked to sign a promise to pay the Islamic "diyeh," or blood money, to the family of each worker killed.

Thousands of Palestinians live off the tunnels, from the diggers to shop owners selling the smuggled merchandise, and profits are huge.

Near the border area, Ashraf Hamed, 31, sells tunnel digging supplies, such as wheelbarrows, shovels, buckets and ropes, because the closure dried up his traditional business in building materials. "If it wasn't for the tunnels, I would have closed," he said.

Nabil Ajaideh is a former policeman who used to chase tunnel diggers before Hamas came to power. Now he's a customer, having just had a $1,500 motorcycle delivered — in pieces — through a tunnel.

"It's an alternative," he explained. "We are forced to do it because the borders are closed."

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