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ISRAEL LAUNCHES GAZA MOAT PLAN
Reuters ^ | 6/17/04

Posted on 06/17/2004 7:20:22 AM PDT by areafiftyone

JERUSALEM, June 17 (Reuters) - Israel set in motion a plan on Thursday to dig a moat along the Gaza-Egypt border, inviting contractor bids for the project meant to prevent arms reaching Palestinian militants through tunnels.

The Defence Ministry published the bid notice 11 days after the cabinet approved in principle a Gaza withdrawal plan, under which Israel would keep a narrow corridor on the Egyptian frontier pending possible security arrangements with Cairo.

Inviting bids by July 12, the ministry said the southern Gaza Strip "canal" would be 15 metres (50 ft) to 25 metres (80 ft) deep and stretch four kilometres (2.5 miles).

The notice, in Israeli newspapers, did not give the width of the canal -- a figure crucial to determining whether any Palestinian homes along the "Philadelphi Corridor" buffer zone adjacent to Rafah refugee camp would need to be demolished.

It was not clear whether the moat would be filled with water, as Israeli military sources had suggested last month, or would be a dry moat.

The ministry invited contractors to tour the project site and said one-year contracts would be issued, renewable for an additional 12 months.

Israel's Defence Ministry and the army declined to elaborate on the project. But Israel radio's military affairs corrrespondent quoted defence sources as saying the moat would be built along the Philadelphi strip.

The multi-million dollar plan was floated last month by the Israeli military as a way to reduce weapons smuggling into southern Gaza after 13 soldiers were killed in three ambushes.

Palestinian officials have said such a project would lead to more houses being bulldozed in the Rafah camp, the scene of a six-day Israeli army operation in May which the U.N. relief agency UNRWA said made 575 people homeless.

The army has said it found and destroyed more than 80 tunnels used by militants in the past three years and commanders have voiced fears the Palestinians could seek to bring in longer-range weapons to fire at Israeli cities.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the Palestinians envisages the removal by the end of 2005 of all 21 Jewish settlements in occupied Gaza and four of the 120 Israel has built in the West Bank.

In a compromise with right-wing hardliners in his cabinet, Sharon agreed to put off any evacuations until a further ministerial vote in nine months' time.


TOPICS: Egypt; Gaza; Hamas; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: borderfence; canal; egypt; gaza; gazacanal; goodfence; hamas; iran; israel; moat; rootcanal; sinai; tunnels; waronterror
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To: areafiftyone

These guys know how to defend a border. What about a big moat in southern Texas, New Mexico and Arizona?


41 posted on 06/17/2004 11:25:44 AM PDT by mict42
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To: areafiftyone

"Moats are fashionable....again!"


42 posted on 06/17/2004 11:30:14 AM PDT by hummingbird ("If it wasn't for the insomnia, I could have gotten some sleep!")
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To: OXENinFLA

I have often thought about this for the southern border, all the way from the gulf to the coast. If it's wide enough, no more need for the Panama Canal, either. Very stategic.


43 posted on 06/17/2004 11:33:30 AM PDT by hollywood (Stay on topic, please.)
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To: hummingbird

I like moats especially with Catapults! :-)


44 posted on 06/17/2004 11:35:48 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Democrats = the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning)
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To: camas

That much fresh water is worth more than Gaza. Sea water, certainly. The Gaza canal... to nowhere.


45 posted on 06/17/2004 11:44:11 AM PDT by Starrgaizr
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To: Alouette
Note that only along the outskirts of Rafa is it necessary to have the moat. In open desert, there are no buildings to hide the digging.
46 posted on 06/17/2004 11:49:54 AM PDT by Starrgaizr
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To: Alouette

Crocs don't much care, I believe, either way, salt or fresh. Piranha, on the other hand, do require fresh. Barracuda, some sharks species and some poison lion fish, rock fish etc. can be substituted.......


47 posted on 06/17/2004 11:50:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Semper Fidelis.......To God, Corps and Country..........................)
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To: Alouette
So fill it with sharks and stinging jellyfish.

Dr. Evil : You know, I have one simple request and that is to have sharks with freakin' laser beams attached to their heads!

48 posted on 06/17/2004 11:53:48 AM PDT by af_vet_rr
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To: areafiftyone

"the scene of a six-day Israeli army operation .."

Now why does that ring a bell??? ;p


49 posted on 06/17/2004 12:07:09 PM PDT by BayouCoyote (The 1st victim of islam is the person who practices it.)
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To: areafiftyone
I like moats especially with Catapults! :-)

Given...what's a moat without a Catapult...just water in a circle....LOL!
50 posted on 06/17/2004 12:10:27 PM PDT by hummingbird ("If it wasn't for the insomnia, I could have gotten some sleep!")
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To: xJones
The moat would only be 2.5 miles long, so apparently most of the tunnels are dug under that small an area. Hmmm, and they aren't dug deeper than 80 ft. max....

I'd assume it's only being considered in the Rafah area, where there are numerous building for the Gaza tunnel terminations. If they can build it 2.5, they can build it 12 without much more effort though.

51 posted on 06/17/2004 12:30:42 PM PDT by SJackson (They're not Americans. They're just journalists, Col George Connell, USMC)
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To: Alouette
So fill it with sharks and stinging jellyfish.

Either skip the jellyfish or ban export of the Israeli sunscreen keeps the jellyfish away

52 posted on 06/17/2004 12:32:17 PM PDT by SJackson (They're not Americans. They're just journalists, Col George Connell, USMC)
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To: hummingbird

LOL - I especially like catapulting various animals over (pigs specifically) ala Monty Python. Ooops better watch what I say PETA may be watching! ;-)


53 posted on 06/17/2004 12:40:34 PM PDT by areafiftyone (Democrats = the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning)
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To: dirtboy

"Water AND alligators".....how about sharks with laser beams!!!!


54 posted on 06/17/2004 12:53:53 PM PDT by priceofreedom (On A Roadmap To Hell)
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To: areafiftyone

Enough of the circus act, kick their behinds already. They want to declare war, have done so, so finish it.

Why build moats, kill them.


55 posted on 06/17/2004 1:18:21 PM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: American in Israel

The question is, why isnt this choice on the table?


56 posted on 06/17/2004 1:29:07 PM PDT by priceofreedom (On A Roadmap To Hell)
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Comment #57 Removed by Moderator

To: SJackson

filler suggestion: a slurry/emulsion containing LD50 concentrations of Strontium90 and Cobalt60


58 posted on 06/17/2004 2:19:09 PM PDT by King Prout (the difference between "trained intellect" and "indoctrinated intellectual" is an Abyssal gulf)
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To: priceofreedom

"The question is, why isn't this choice on the table?"

Who says that choice isn't on the table? Timing is everything!


59 posted on 06/17/2004 2:46:10 PM PDT by Esther Ruth (As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth & FOREVER)
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To: Esther Ruth

touche


60 posted on 06/17/2004 2:58:25 PM PDT by priceofreedom (On A Roadmap To Hell)
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