Gaza weapons smuggling flourishes

[cali]

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - In houses along the steel wall separating Gaza and Egypt, the lights are flickering — a sign that smugglers are digging tunnels below, their powerful drills weakening the flow of electricity.

Tunneling is the fastest-growing business in this impoverished border town, and one of the biggest obstacles to any lasting Israeli-Palestinian truce.

Since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip a year ago, the number of tunnels for smuggling weapons, drugs and other contraband has more than doubled, evolving into an underground maze clawed out of Gaza's soft soil.

The largely unhindered weapons influx also heightens the threat of civil war between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements in Gaza and is souring Israel's ties with neighboring Egypt.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_tunnel_trafficking

[cali]

1. Sadly,

I suspect that this will end the fragile cease fire in short order. An Israeli spokeswoman states as much in the article.

[Phx_Dem]

10. I wonder if Egypt would accept help from the UN

assuming that the UN would be willing to assist Egypt with border security problems.

[Englander]

2. That's a seriously misleading article -

'Since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip a year ago, the number of tunnels for smuggling weapons, drugs and other contraband has more than doubled, evolving into an underground maze clawed out of Gaza's soft soil.'

There's no mention of the reality of the situation, that the Israeli authorities continue to control
many elements of access to the Gaza strip, & that many NGOs consider Gaza to be occupied.

B'Tselem;
'The scope of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip

In September 2005, Israel completed the "disengagement plan" that was approved by the government and the Knesset. The two primary components of the plan were dismantling of the settlements in the Gaza Strip and moving the settlers to Israeli territory, and removal of all IDF forces from the Gaza Strip. After the plan was completed, Israel issued an order declaring the end of the military government in the Gaza Strip. The changes following disengagement resulted in some improvement in the ability of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to run their lives. Most importantly, they are now able to move about freely in most of the territory. However, following disengagement, Israel continued to hold decisive control over important elements of Palestinian life in the Gaza Strip, as follows :

1. Air space and territorial waters: Israel continues to maintain complete control over the air and sea space of the Gaza Strip. Control of the air space provides Israel with the ability to effectively and easily control actions on the ground, and to interfere with radio and television broadcasts. Control of the coastal area and territorial waters enables Israel , among other things, to restrict the activity of Palestinian fishermen. Israel 's control is also manifested in the need to obtain Israeli approval to operate a seaport and airport, the lack of which impairs freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip and impairs the Palestinians' conduct of foreign trade.

2. Population registry: Israel continues to control the joint Gaza Strip-West Bank population registry. Formal authority for administering the population registry was transferred under the second Oslo Agreement, of 1995, to the Palestinian Authority, but in practice, Israel continued to hold most of the powers regarding the registry. Almost every change in the registry made by the Palestinian Authority, except for the registration of children whose two parents are residents of the Occupied Territories , requires the prior approval of Israel . Israel does not recognize changes made by the Palestinian Authority without its approval. The same has been true following disengagement. By controlling the population registry, Israel continues to determine who is a "Palestinian resident" and who is a "foreigner." Also, Israel requires the Palestinian Authority to obtain its approval before making any change in the address of a resident of the Gaza Strip who wants to move to the West Bank . This control of the population registry significantly affects a number of areas of life.

3. Entry of "foreigners": Despite the handover of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to the control of the Palestinian Authority, Israel continues to control the entry into the Gaza Strip of persons who are not deemed residents of the Occupied Territories . According to the November 2005 agreement between the PA and Israel , the Palestinian Authority may permit entry into the Strip via Rafah only to "Palestinian residents," i.e., individuals who are registered in the Palestinian population registry and hold Palestinian identity cards. Also, the Palestinian Authority must prevent the entry of Palestinian residents if Israel opposes their entry for security reasons. To ensure compliance with the agreement, European observers are posted at the Rafah crossing.

"Foreign" residents, except those in a few categories, are only allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings, which are under Israel 's sole control. Control over the entry of "foreigners" enables Israel to continue to control family unification between Gazans and their spouses who are foreign residents. Also, Israeli control plays a decisive role in social and economic systems, which rely on the presence of experts from abroad.

4. Movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: Israel continues to maintain complete control of the movement of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank . This is the case also when the movement does not take place across Israeli territory. Israeli control is based on a military order that classifies the entire West Bank as a "closed military area," as to which entry and exit requires a permit issued by the military. Residents of Gaza who are caught in the West Bank without a permit, even if they have lived in the West Bank for years and established families there, are considered to be staying illegally in the area and are expelled to the Gaza Strip. As noted above, changing the address on an identity card from one area to the other requires Israel 's approval. In addition, Israel classifies many West Bank residents as "persons forbidden to go abroad," which also prevents them from going to the Gaza Strip. Ongoing control of movement between the two areas is decisive in light of their mutual dependence, given that the two areas have functioned over the years as one territorial unit. The dependence is conspicuous in a number of key areas, such as public administration, health services, higher education, and trade. Also, most Gazans have close family and social ties with persons living in the West Bank , and vice versa.

5. Imports and exports: Israel continues to exercise complete control over the movement of goods into the Gaza Strip. The three crossing points designated for this purpose – Karni, Sufa, and Kerem Shalom – are under Israel 's sole control. Rafah Crossing, the administration of which was handed over to the Palestinian Authority, has a terminal for the crossing of goods, but according to the November 2005 agreement, the crossing is limited to exports. The importance of the PA's independent ability to export goods via Rafah Crossing is limited, given that most of the exports are intended for Israel or are shipped abroad via Israeli ports. As a result, most exports pass through Karni. Israel 's almost complete control of the movement of goods to and from the Gaza Strip has far-reaching consequences: Israel 's decision to close the commercial crossings, a frequent occurrence, paralyzes the Gaza Strip economy and causes a shortage of basic goods, including food and medicines.

6. The tax system: Relying on the arrangements made in the Paris Agreement (1994) between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israel continues to control most elements of the taxation system of the Gaza Strip: Israel is responsible for setting the VAT and customs rates on goods intended for consumption in the Gaza Strip, collecting these taxes for the Palestinian Authority, and transferring the tax monies to the Palestinian Authority each month. These powers enable Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by stopping the transfer of the tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, which impairs the PA's ability to carry out basic functions of government such as paying salaries and providing humanitarian assistance. Israel also controls the granting of exemptions from customs and VAT to non-profit humanitarian-aid organizations for products and equipment donated to them from abroad. This power is extremely significant: if not granted the exemption, an organization would have to pay the taxes that the importer would have to pay when the goods enter the Gaza Strip at one of the crossing points controlled by Israel .

http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Gaza_Status.asp

[pelsar]

3. a very precise article....

its about the tunnel industry...the smuggling, the lack of ability/will on the part of the PA and Egyptians to do anything about it.

and the chaos it helps cause in the gaza strip...this one is one the egyptians and palestenains all the way...just like the way they use those same weapons within the Gaza Strip.

Its getting more and more difficult to blame israel for all the violence in gaza today...yet still some will find the way, even hamas and the PA dont blame israel...so whos left?...just some europeans.....


the above quote reminds me of some of the "talk back" within ha artz....some people just cant let go of the "its israels fault"...for whatever the palestenains do....it makes it clear however that no matter what israel does for some, it will always be israels fault no matter how obvious that its not..but then this has been going on for a long time time, so its really nothing new, just some "new clothes" to cover it .

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Exactly who is blaming Israel for all the violence in Gaza today?

You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over, yet you never say who exactly is blaming Israel for EVERYTHING. Well, apart from now they seem to be Europeans, which is bizarre since the article that was posted had zero to do with blaming Israel for EVERYTHING or Europeans...

[pelsar]

8. read post 2

its a indirect way of saying israel is at fault....

either that or the poster got his websites mixed up

[Violet_Crumble]

9. I did. It isn't blaming Israel for everything...

And B'tselem is a very credible and respected Israeli human rights group, so what did it have to do with Europeans?

[cali]

4. Fine,

that phrase is inaccurate, but despite the fact that I'd bet my firstborn child that you'll argue to the contrary, your comment hardly addresses the issues that the article brings up.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. the U.S. does provide military aid to Fatah with the possible purpose

of taking on Hamas. This is done of course with the full knowledge and cooperation of Israeli authorities.

This does give some understanding as to a major contributing factor as to why there is a domestic arms race going on between the two leading Palestinian factions.

Here is an interesting article from the Economist - link:

http://www.economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8109652

"With politics deadlocked, an unofficial alliance between Fatah, Israel and the United States has begun to consider a military way to force Hamas out. In the name of “security reform”, America is financing a training camp outside Jericho for the Palestinians' Force 17, a recruitment pool for the presidential guard. Israel has sanctioned the transfer of heavier weapons and allowed Fatah's Tanzim militia to rearm. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, awaits the arrival of 2,000 troops from the Badr Brigade, a Jordan-based division of the Palestinian Liberation Army which operates largely under Hashemite command. These troops, say the president's advisers, would provide the backbone of a force of tens of thousands to take on Hamas, whose own forces are said to number 5,700 in Gaza, and 1,500 in the West Bank."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

and this article from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"U.S. training Fatah in anti-terror tactics
Underlying motive is to counter strength of Hamas, analysts say
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Thursday, December 14, 2006

"(12-14) 04:00 PST Jericho, West Bank -- U.S. officials training Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas are emphasizing urban anti-terrorist techniques as part of a systematic effort to bolster Abbas and his Fatah loyalists to counter the political success of Hamas, according to Palestinian analysts and officers receiving the training. "

link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/12/14/MNGIPMV3N61.DTL&type=politics

[cali]

7. Very interesting,

but what this has to do with the article I posted, remains a mystery to me. I posted the article because I thought it was a detailed and interesting look at a very specific activity, and could be instrumental in both factional fighting within Gaza and the status of the fragile truce between Israelis and Palestinians.