The Secret Tunnels Of Gaza

(CBS)  At least seven people were killed in the most violent attack since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June. The Gaza borders are sealed. Roads are closed. And yet, supplies are getting through, via secret tunnels along the border with Egypt. Few Western reporters have been inside them, but CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer went deep into no-man's land near the Rafah crossing to get this exclusive report.

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At first glance - Gaza's southern border is a wasteland, battle-scarred, patrolled by Hamas and separated from Egypt by a wall.

But a set of derelict buildings shown on CBS News video hide a secret that CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer found her way into.

It's a subterranean maze that makes a mockery of Israel's efforts to seal Gaza.

Veteran smugglers took CBS News down for an exclusive look.

One tunnel goes straight under the desert about 40 yards and comes up again in Egypt. Its part of a whole labyrinth of tunnels here and it's the mainline smuggling route for everything from explosives and people to cigarettes.

One Palmer saw was only about two feet in diameter, but it's a lifeline for the million and a half residents of Gaza, who struggle to get basic supplies now that Israel has closed the roads.

How long did it take to make the tunnel?

"From here down and all the way out," a smuggler said. "Three months."

Who paid the smugglers to do it?

"Somebody paid us to dig it," he said. "Then once it started working, we got a cut of the profit from all the goods we brought it."

United Nations staff estimate that 10 percent of goods coming into Gaza are smuggled through the tunnels, including life-saving medicine … at least - explains one pharmacist - for those who can afford contraband prices.

Palmer asked one resident: "So now that the borders are closed, how do you get the drugs you need?"

"Through the tunnels," the resident said. "People can get what they need, but it's very expensive."

But it's not drugs - or cigarettes - that Israel's worried about, it's the security risk.

Last year, Hamas tunneled into Israel and kidnapped a soldier - Gilad Shalit - who, eighteen months later, is still a hostage.

In that time, the Israelis have blown up over 30 tunnels, but - says Israeli intelligence - there are plenty more.

Funneling the weapons, explosives and Iranian cash that Hamas needs to crush all opposition in Gaza.

[michaelt302]

How fitting. Since Islamists are vermin, it makes perfect sense that they tunnel under the ground just like rats. Terrorist scum. I wish Israel would one night, at 3am, suddenly flood these tunnels with a million gallons of gas and then toss a road flare down the entrance. That''s the best way to kill rats.

[jowand]

This is the knuckle dragging Middle Eastern version of the Godfather. Hamas and Fatah are the mafioso.

[dmhphils]

Posted by juwboy at 05:49 AM : Nov 13, 2007
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I googled Grand Mufti 1935 and there it all is. Amazing stuff. I never knew there was a connection like this during WWII, but it should have been obvious to me. They banked their future with Hitler thinking Germany would surely win the war and their liberation, so now they are ticked off. I''m gonna study that again.

[dmhphils]

Most aspects of my Comment were summarized in a Newsweek article earlier this year.

A search at Newsweek''''s web site should enable you to dig it out.


Posted by juwboy at 05:49 AM : Nov 13, 2007
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It is incredibly interesting to me......because I never heard that before. I will check it out. Thanks.

[searingtruth]

Perhaps the Israelis and Palestinians should simply share their disputed lands, rather than killing themselves, generation after generation, over who should be their absolute ruler.

I think that''s what a magnanimous and loving God would want.

Of course selfish humans may prefer a different path, in blasphemous name of a God ...
ST

"If all gods are loving and peaceful, longing only to end the suffering and death of the innocent, should we not we assist them?"
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[dmhphils]

Posted by juwboy at 05:27 AM : Nov 13, 2007
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That is very interesting. Do you have a source out of curiosity??

[dmhphils]

Posted by juwboy at 05:27 AM : Nov 13, 2007
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That is very interesting. Do you have a sorce out of curiosity?

You have more support than you realize.

[feelfree1]

"Anti-Zionist Jewish Protestors"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dSHl3C9kgY

[david54h]

FeelFree1, you my friend are an idiot!!!!
Are you actually that dumb that you will defend Hamas, a terrorist group, who just a couple of days ago killed seven people at a memorial for a palestinian leader because again, they have a different point of view?????
Or Iran, that just today one of it''s political leaders said, and this is a fact, that they execute gay people?????

And you expect Israel to make peace with people who can''t even make peace with themselves??????
But of-course you think they built those tunnels to make peace with Israel, just ignore those people sneaking in weapons to not only kill Israelis, but other Palestinians!!!!!

Yep, one word: idiot!!!!!

[burneb]

This is one continuing mess that cannot reasonably be blamed on the Bush administration. Palestinians in Gaza have been digging such tunnels under the Egyptian border for at least 40 years to smuggle weapons. Long before any blockade, before any intafada, or even the 1967 war, Israelis would find several each year, often via mysterious explosions.
No negotiations, peace agreements, diplomatic relations with Egypt, or withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza has ever seemed to have made any difference in the never ending smuggling.