Posted on 06/17/2004 6:52:13 PM PDT by blam
Israel to build moat on border with Egypt
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem
(Filed: 18/06/2004)
Israel has announced plans to build a saltwater moat along the Gaza-Egypt border in a move greeted with shock and bemusement.
The moat is intended to deter the smuggling of weapons through tunnels under the frontier from Egypt into Palestinian areas.
Israel's defence ministry published a request for bids after the cabinet approved, in principle, a Gaza pullout plan, under which Israel would keep a narrow corridor on the Egyptian frontier pending possible security arrangements with Egypt.
The moat will be 2.5 miles in length, between 15 to 16 yards deep and is expected to be filled with seawater.
Defence officials confirmed that the moat will be built along the Philadelphi Route by the border ahead of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, including all Jewish settlements, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005.
"This is the beginning of turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison," said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian cabinet minister, comparing the trench to the barrier Israel is constructing in the West Bank with the declared aim of stopping suicide bombers.
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 UN relief agency UNRWA said made 575 people homeless.
When Israeli officials first suggested a security moat last month the concept was met with a mixture of wonderment, ridicule and a few guffaws.
Some commentators wondered whether it would be filled with crocodiles to snap up any wayward Palestinians or if Mr Sharon had any plans to take a sailing trip along it.
One respondent, writing to an internet site reporting on the moat building plan, inquired: "Will it have sharks with frickin' laser beams?"
But defence ministry officials are deadly serious. A senior defence official said a major part of the cost for digging the moat will be financed by the sale of large quantities of sand that will be dug up during construction.
It is still unclear, however, whether Israel has the right to sell the sand, since the land in question is defined as "occupied" territory.
For some days now Israeli officials have been talking about severing the "terrorists' lifeline" and how they will "reshape" the southern Gaza Strip border area before it can implement a unilateral disengagement plan.
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 that the Palestinians could seek to bring in longer-range weapons to fire at Israeli cities.
Israeli troops claim to have found several smuggling tunnels dug under the Philadelphi Route and forces in the area have come under almost daily shooting attacks in the area.
In Nablus yesterday Israeli forces arrested two teenage girls in connection with a plan to carry out a suicide bombing.
Both their fathers have been arrested, though it is not clear their fathers were aware of the plan.
The girls have not been named, but Israeli security sources said the suicide bomber was aged 15. She was recruited by a 14-year-old girl friend, also from Nablus.
Breaking news, off the ESPN sportswire.....The Palestine SAuthority has just announced that they will enter a sychronized swimming team in the 2004 Olympics..
"This is the beginning of turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison," said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian cabinet minister
That's kind of the point,if your fellow psycotics can't behave,you neeed to be isolated.
This just in,the entire Palestinian Synchronised Swimming team drowned when their suicide explosive belts dragged them underwater after they wandered into the deep end of the moat.
I actually find this quite amusing. Imagine the surprised look of arms smuggling terrorists as their tunnels flood with millions of gallons of seawater.
---"This is the beginning of turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison," said Saeb Erekat---
Of your own making, you murdering SOB.
Oh, I hear it was going to be pole vaulting.
Hey, British newspaper Telegraph...why all the "shock and bemusement?" The moat around England, otherwise known as the English channel, is the only thing that kept Hitler's tanks from driving into London after the "miracle" of Dunkirk -- asshats.
Salt water moats with salt water crocs, sounds like a great idea!
In case you hadn't noticed, in Iraq, the "Poles" are on OUR side..
How about populating the moat with crocodiles and piranhas?
I consider myself a Zionist among Zionists, but I have been advocating the complete Israeli abandonment of Philistia (oops, I mean "Gaza") for as long as I have posted on Free Republic. I'm happy to see that the Israeli government is finally taking my wise advice (grin!).
Philistia (Gaza) is different from Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank"). Philistia is home to only 6,000 Jewish settlers, many of which have lived there for less than one generation (and who may be reasonably compensated for withdrawal) -- but is home to 1.3 million Philistines. Philistia should be cut loose, to sink or swim. By contrast, Judea and Samaria are home to some 200,000 Jews, some of which are into their third generation of residency. The expulsion of these Jews from Judea and Samaria is not an option -- rather, Israel should examine the eventual Annexation and full Incorporation of the so-called "West Bank" (I am not above suggesting that Israel should, for demographic reasons, offer a monetary bonus to those Palestinians who would voluntarily re-locate to Jordan and Syria -- but those Palies who remain should receive full Citizenship and Property Rights upon Israeli Annexation).
Once Philistia is cut loose from Israel, they are certainly not a "prison". They are simply placed in the same circumstance as other densely-populated, resource-poor Micro-States, such as Hong Kong or Singapore -- which have become relative economic Paradises within their regions by inviting Trade and Business via a combination of Free Commerce and the Rule of Law. Free Commerce is not a tradition unknown to the Arabs; indeed, it vastly pre-dates the Soviet-inspired 1950's "frankenstein monster" of "Arab Socialism" (traditional Islamic Law requires only an iron-clad Law of Charity giving 3% of all income to the Poor, not Socialism). If the Philistines embrace Free Commerce and the Rule of Law (even Sharia Law, if applied evenly and without external aggressions -- the domestic Laws of Singapore are also harsh and authoritarian, but at least Singapore does not sponsor terrorism), they have an opportunity to follow in the steps of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Konigsberg -- becoming a regional center of Trade. If the Philistines instead remain committed to Arab Socialism and Wahhabistic terrorism, they will remain a poor, degenerate, violent backwater -- a "Prison" of their own making, fit only for walls and moats and isolation from the civilized world.
Once Israel withdraws -- the choice is theirs.
Crocodiles won't eat Palestinians - crocs don't eat their own.
Erekat's poor command of the English language is showing - the proper term is "an insane asylum", not "a big prison".
Hope it's filled with crocs....CRIKEE!
Get ready for the "Wetback" jokes.
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