Gazas Tunnels: A Fascinating Look Inside Rafahs

Underground By National Geographic

James Verini traveled to Egypts border with Gaza for

National Geographic and came back with a fascinating account of
the workings of the tunnels that connect Egypt with the Gaza
Strip.
Gaza, suffering under an Israeli-imposed trade blockade, has
given new meaning to the term underground economy. One of
the most densely populated slivers of land in the world, Gaza sits
atop a web of smuggling tunnels which are the enclaves main
supply line that allow for the import of consumer goods,
construction materials, electronics, cars and even animals for the
Gaza Zoo. For many Gazans the tunnels are a lifeline and a source
of hope.
Through the tunnels under Rafah came everything from
building materials and food to medicine and clothing, from fuel
and computers to livestock and cars. New tunnels were dug by
the dayby the hour, it seemedand new fortunes minted.
Families sold their possessions to buy in. Some 15,000 people
worked in and around the tunnels at their peak, and they provided
ancillary work for tens of thousands more, from engineers and
truck drivers to shopkeepers. Today Gazas underground economy
accounts for two-thirds of consumer goods, and the tunnels are so
common that Rafah features them in official brochures.
We did not choose to use the tunnels, a government
engineer told James. But it was too hard for us to stand still
during the siege and expect war and poverty. For many Gazans,
the tunnels, lethal though they can be, symbolize better things:
their native ingenuity, the memory and dream of mobility, and
perhaps most significant for a population defined by
dispossession, a sense of control over the land. The irony that
control must be won by going beneath the land is not lost on
Gazans.
At Rafahs hectic Saturday market, vendors sell everything
from flavored water and vegetables to cotton candy. Many goods
come through the tunnels from Egypt, but the plump strawberries
on display in front of a Hamas billboard are homegrown.
Lamb is a luxury most Gazans can afford only on important
Muslim holidays. With many farms devastated by war, and with
other land lying unproductive in areas restricted by Israel,
livestock comes in by tunnel from Egypt.
Even still, the tunnels in Gaza have served as a sort of
underground Walmart, Verini joked. They move everything from
food to electronics to weapons and Viagra, he said.
The tunnels have existed for some 30 years, but the amount
of goods being moved has become more robust since 2007, after
Israel imposed a blockade shortly after Hamas took power in the
territory. Israel allows in essentials to Gaza, but it has refused to
lift the crippling blockade in an effort to topple Hamas and to end
rocket strikes into the country.
The government of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
helped enforce the blockade, wanting Israel to be seen as
responsible for Gazas suffering. Since his ouster and the election
of President Mohammed Morsi, Cairo has largely opened the
Rafah border crossing with Gaza for Palestinians to enter and exit.
However, commerce has yet to be legitimized.
Gazans are still hopeful that the Arab Spring might bring a
change in their circumstances, though so far it has not. There is
talk of opening the border with Egypt, but when that might
happen, or indeed whether it will at all, is unclear.
The underground economy represents the story of
deprivation and hardship in Gaza, but, at the same time, the
tunnels are a story about ingenuity and civic pride...what people
do when people are denied common forms of power or official
channels of power.

1. The article I read is headlined: Gazas Tunnels: A Fascinating

Look Inside Rafahs Underground By National Geographic. As the
title implies it describes a travel to Gazas extensive smuggling
tunnels.
2. Written by a journalist James Verini and published in National
Geographic in December 2012, it provides a fascinating account
of the workings of the tunnels that connect Egypt with the Gaza
Strip.
3. The article touches upon a controversial issue of an Israeli-
imposed trade blockade and Gazas underground economy.
4. According to it Gaza sits atop a web of smuggling tunnels
stretching to Egypt that allow for the import of consumer goods,
construction materials, electronics, cars and even animals for the
Gaza Zoo.
From what the author says it becomes clear that for many
Gazans, the tunnels, lethal though they can be, symbolize better
things: their native ingenuity, the memory, dream of mobility and
a sense of control over the land.
In conclusion the author emphasizes that the underground
economy represents the story of deprivation and hardship in
Gaza, but, at the same time, the tunnels are a story about
ingenuity and civic pride.
5. I found the article to be particularly interesting because it
mentions a definitely soul-stirring topic of vital importance. The
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now more than a century old and is
still far from end, and the story of Gazas underground economy
reproduces a shared endeavor to preserve ethnic identity and
national pride in spite of all sufferings, which include
displacement, occupation, colonization and continuous
oppression.