U.S.-funded program fails to stop Gaza tunnels

Tracking Hamas' rockets
Egypt, which dislikes conditions being put on the U.S. aid, suspected that Israel was behind the lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill and was hostile to the idea at first, according to a top local U.S. diplomat who spoke about the program at the time. The diplomat spoke only on condition of anonymity because the matter involved sensitive relations between Egypt and Israel.

Under congressional pressure, Egypt agreed in January 2008 to spend $23 million of the U.S. military aid solely on training and technical equipment to detect the tunnels.

Tunnel smuggling between Egypt and Gaza dates back to the 1980s, when Israel returned to the Sinai Desert to Egypt. But it spiraled out of control after Hamas seized power, provoking Israel and Egypt to cut the Gaza Strip off from the outside world.

Yet during the time period that Egypt promised to step up its tunnel detection last year, Hamas was able to obtain a growing number of more sophisticated, longer-range weapons, which U.S. and Israeli officials have said they believe are made of parts originating in Syria or Iran.

"A lot of the longer-range rockets that have hit Israel, those have been smuggled in over the last few months," said David Makovsky, a fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A way of life
One smuggler at the frontier town of Rafah joked about the U.S. effort.

"They spent millions and they only got a few tunnels," said the smuggler, who would not give his name for fear of arrest by Egyptian authorities.

The father of seven, who insisted he does not smuggle weapons, said smuggling is a way of life for Rafah residents, many of whom are unemployed or make less than $100 a month at their government jobs. Smuggling a box of cigarettes can bring $70, a box of bullets $200, he said.

Even if caught, a smuggler can easily pay off border guards, many of whom earn even less, he said. Rebuilding the tunnels if they are destroyed also is easy, he said.

"All of Rafah relies on the tunneling business. For God sake, look at all the modern cars in this town, which is full of unemployed people," he said.

Complicating the issue is the fact that the smuggling often is a family business — worked by people whose relatives live on both sides of the border.

Call for enforcement
The tunnels are back in the news again as new efforts emerge to end the Gaza fighting and solve the political standoff.

International Mideast envoy Tony Blair said this week that arrangements to stop the smuggling would be key to any cease-fire. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said as part of a plan put forth by Egypt and France, Cairo had agreed to work more on border security.

But pessimism about Egypt's political willingness or ability to stop the smuggling remains.

Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said Egypt has long lacked the political will to crack down.

"It's about changing the entire attitude, whereby you do enforcement in a very intensive and aggressive way, which we have not seen yet," Ayalon said.

More from msnbc.com World Blog: Bracing for climate-change migrants Bank bailout will cost taxpayers billions Red Tape: Times are tough — even for cybercriminals  Brazilian police accused of killing 11,000 since 2003 Send us your salutes to troops, friends, kin Giving back for the holiday season? Tell us how On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Scores killed in wave of attacks in Baghdad Iran: Students, militia clash for 2nd day Iranian forces clash with protesters Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: