Posted on 01/22/2009 3:34:50 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Just when I thought I’d seen every surprise the Middle East had to offer, I showed up on the Gaza/Egypt border. To understand why this is such a surprise you need to remember that Israel said the war in Gaza had two goals: 1) To stop the rocket fire and 2) To stop the smuggling of rockets into the Gaza strip and close the tunnels through which they are smuggled from the Egyptian side.
So, I arrive at the border and find an entire community digging away like prospectors during the gold rush. It was all out in the open. They were pulling broken wood out of the opening of tunnels. Diggers, most of them kids, were covered from head-to-toe with sand having done the labor of re-opening the tunnels Israel had just closed with 22 days of a withering air campaign.
One of the first I visited needed just a little patch up work and was back in the business of running goods underground from Egypt. I asked the owner of the tunnel if I could have a look at it he said, “Ahlan wa Sahlan,” welcome to everything.
The problem is that the entrance of the tunnel had been hit. It was about 90 feet down and the ladder was broken away in the middle.
(Excerpt) Read more at onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com ...
Send over one plane per week. One laser guided bomb should do it.
|
Smuggling tunnels? I thought Carter said they are defensive tunnels.
QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2154771/posts?page=430#430
Note: Photos included:
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e050.htm
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
January 22, 2009
“Hamas Invites Foreign Correspondents to the Egyptian Border to Prove Some Smuggling Tunnels Still Operating after Operation Cast Lead. The move was made to defy Israel, Egypt and the international community, and is part of Hamas’s battle for hearts and minds and to produce a victory narrative”
430 posted on January 25, 2009 4:11:46 PM PST by Cindy
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.