RAFAH, Gaza – Just a few
months ago, Abu Ola, a 60-year-old Gazan, thought the future of his tunnel
business was bleak.
Israel had eased its blockade on the Gaza Strip in
the spring of 2010, allowing everything from concrete to confections into the
Hamas-ruled enclave and putting and a damper on the smuggling trade. Then, Egypt
opened the Rafah border crossing last May, making it easier for people to get in
and out. With business drying up, Ola dismissed half of his 13-man
workforce.
RELATED:IDF strikes tunnels, rocket launching cells in GazaThe much anticipated opening of the Rafah terminal – the
single crossing point for people between Gaza and the outside world - whet
their taste for travel without sating it. As a result, demand to get people over
the border into Egypt and back has swelled. Tunnel operators say business is
strong again, giving them the incentive to keep their underground passages open
and maybe even expand them.
“Tunnels that smuggle people weren’t popular
before and there were only one or two of them.
But since there’s no point
in sending goods through them, many of us are thinking about switching to
smuggling people,” Ola told The Media Line. “We don’t even need to smuggle cars
anymore, because Israel is letting cars enter Gaza. Rafah is messed up, so many
people are resorting to tunnels to get in and out of here.”
That’s good
news for tunnel entrepreneurs like Ola as well as the many Gazans with
legitimate reasons to travel, whether they are family members seeking to be
reunited or someone in need of urgent medical care. But it’s bad news for
Israel, which believes the
attack on its border with Egypt last week that left
eight dead was the work of terrorists smuggled out of Gaza through one of the
underground passages.
The thriving tunnel business, together with the
growing lawlessness in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula adjacent to Israel and Gaza, has
made it easier than ever for gunmen to cross the border with weapons and
supplies. Israeli officials say that last week’s attacks, which occurred some
180 kilometers (110 miles) from the Gaza Strip, could have only succeeded if the
perpetrators travelled from Gaza through Egypt to the Israeli border.
The
Israeli Air Force responded top the attack by bombing the tunnels, but with
hundreds of the underground passages and no effective means of locating and
destroying them, the raids are unlikely to act as much of a
deterrent.
Take the case of MS, age 29. He and his older brother had left
Gaza for a European country several years ago, where they established a
successful business and eventually received European passports. When their
mother died earlier this year, they were determined to make a trip home -
despite the Arab Spring turmoil in Egypt - through which they would have to
pass on the way to Gaza. Knowing the problems going through Rafah, they felt
they had little choice, said MS, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
“Once we heard about the tunnel that smuggles people and we
booked our flight to Egypt in a heartbeat,” MS told The Media Line. “We arrived
at the Cairo airport, left our luggage at a friend’s house and went immediately
to the tunnel area. I went in with my brother and we arrived at Rafah after a
horrifying trip through a small tunnel. We stayed two days in Gaza where we
buried our mom and said our goodbyes to her and our family then used the same
tunnel to go back to Egypt.”
MS and his brother stayed another two days
in Egypt so as not to arouse the suspicions of the Egyptian authorities and then
left for Europe.
The Rafah opening was supposed to put the tunnels out of
business, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Applicants must pre-register and
the waiting list to get across is months long and conditions are chaotic. Of
Gaza’s 1.3 million people, only a few hundred manage to get through every
day.
Worse still, someone who does manage to get into Gaza via the
official terminal risks not being able to get out again because of the
bureaucratic tangle (only Palestinians holding Palestinian identification papers
and passports can enter Gaza but only Palestinians with international passports
can leave Gaza easily; but you cant use both). Delays leaving Gaza could mean a
traveler finding his or her visa and/or work permit expiring. By comparison,
passage through a tunnel takes a few minutes, no questions asked.
That’s
why Ahmed Salem, 53 and the father of two married sons living in Egypt, took the
tunnel.
Suffering from severe stomach pains, he opted first for the
official route, registering on the Hamas Interior Ministry’s website to leave
Gaza for medical treatment. At first, he didn’t even consider the tunnel
alternative because of the danger and discomfort. But as he waited for his name
to come up, his condition grew worse and no approval was forthcoming, so Salem
finally gave in.
“I was dying anyway and didn’t have anything to lose, so
I went through with it. I went through the tunnel and felt nothing. I reached
Egypt, visited my sons, got the medical treatment and even stayed for recovery
and rejuvenation,” Salem told The Media Line. “Of course, I took a risk by
travelling in Egypt without a stamp on my passport, but it was worth it. The way
back was frightening because I was cured and could now lose my life any second
in this little tunnel.”
Salem called the journey terrifying and said he
would never do it again unless his health was at risk.
Strangely enough,
Hamas says it is determined to crack down on the tunnel business and plans to
station 500 guards, place barbed wire and other barriers on the border with
Egypt as part of a plan to end smuggling and force Gazans to use Rafah. “The
plan aims to make sure that no individual can enter or exit the Gaza Strip in an
informal manner because the official transportation method is Rafah crossing
between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.” Ihab Ghussein, a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry, told The Media Line.
Travelling by tunnels has a lot of
advantages over Rafah, but it isn’t easy. Mohammed, a tunnel worker who asked to
be identified only by his first name, explains how it works. The traveler first
meets with Mohammed’s boss to learn about the risks involved and is assigned a
day and time for the crossing. With an escort, the traveler is lowered into the
tunnel by ropes or can climb down a wooden ladder, he says.
The most
ambitious tunnel operators have installed tracks and electric carts inside the
passages themselves. Once as long as a kilometer to avoid Egyptian police, they
are now a fraction of that length. But the tunnels aren’t for the claustrophobic
– they are narrow and there is always the risk of collapse from an Israeli raid
or under the weight of homes and other buildings on the surface.
The
tunnel worker leads the way, with the traveler following. Sometimes two
travelers will go together if they agree. On the Egyptian side, a ropes or a
ladder serve to bring them to the surface.
Another tunnel worker, who
asked to be identified only as Ibrahim, said his boss charges people $50 each
for the passage. He has to think before answering a question as to how much
business his tunnel did everyday; business varies from month-to-month and
day-to-day, but is good enough that he had to do some mental
calculations.
After rubbing his head, he concluded: “We can smuggle 30-50
people a day and we work most days in a good month and sometimes
less.”
Mohammed says that a lot of the tunnel travelers are merchants or
people who hold dual nationalities but can’t take advantage of their two
passports to enter and exit Gaza easily. But they are a minority. “From my
experience, I’d say that 90% of the people who are willing to endanger their
lives and pass through this tunnel suffer from a lethal disease and need urgent
medical assistance.”