Posted 10/14/2003 11:37:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Tunnels in Rafah

If this is true, then I have even less sympathy for the poor Arabs being used by the PA.

The smuggling operation is essentially a family enterprise, report Huberman and Shalom, with several large Gaza families "owning" a piece of the action. They pay families that agree to have a tunnel running from their homes $1,000 each month, and they then sell the weapons that are thus smuggled to the Palestinian Authority. If a tunnel-camouflaging home is destroyed by the IDF, the PA pays generous compensation to the family - and even builds the family a new home in the Tel Sultan neighborhood. Some residents have therefore begun spreading rumors of tunnels in their homes, designed for Israeli ears, so that they can "start all over" with a destroyed home, PA reparations, and a new modern house...

...Some of the tunnels have been found to be as deep as 30 meters underground, in order to evade some of Israel's counter-measures. They are used not only to smuggle arms and weapons, but also precious metals, electric appliances, car parts, and even terrorists. The IDF has uncovered and destroyed 36 tunnels so far in 2003.