Egypt political quake felt in Gaza - and its tunnels (News Feature)

By Ofira Koopmans Feb 2, 2011, 13:54 GMT

Gaza/Tel Aviv - As everywhere in the Mideast region, the repercussions of Egypt's unrest are felt also in Gaza, the tiny coastal enclave that shares a border of 12 kilometres with the regional superpower.

Gazans sympathize with the Egyptian protesters' quest for better economic and social conditions, and greater political freedoms.

But for many of the 1.5 million inhabitants of the overcrowded strip, where some 80 per cent live under the poverty line and depend on aid from international organizations, how the developments impact daily life is their immediate preoccupation.

Many wonder what a regime change in Cairo would mean for the smuggling of goods - and weapons - through the network of tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

Egypt has shut down until further notice its Rafah border crossing with Gaza amid the unrest.

Since it spread, the smuggling process has kept going, 'but it is very, very slow,' said Abu Hamza, 45, the owner of a smuggling tunnel in the border town of Rafah.

He said the troubles in Egypt had interrupted the flow of goods along the smuggling route in the Sinai peninsula. Products now coming in were mainly those that had reached the Egyptian side of Rafah before the protests broke out. But no new goods were recently brought from Cairo and elsewhere.

His observation contradicted claims by an Israeli official, who charged that Hamas, the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza, was holding a smuggling 'party,' as Egypt was forced to thin out its elsewhere needed security forces on the border.

Since Israel eased its blockade of Gaza in June, smugglers have shifted their focus from previously banned non-essential consumer goods like soft drinks, which now enter legally via Israel, to items on an Israeli 'dual-use list' - still prohibited because Israel says militants can use them to build weapons or bunkers.

Those include cement and iron, said Abu Jihad Rikhawi, 42, another tunnel owner in Rafah.

Fuel smuggled in via the tunnels remains in high demand too.

The price of a litre of smuggled Egyptian diesel is 1.8 Israeli shekels, less than half a dollar, compared to 6.5 shekels (1.75 dollars) for a litre of diesel from Israel.

Without the tunnels, fuel in Gaza would be 'horribly expensive,' said Nahed Abu Halim, the owner of a Gaza City petrol station.

'Most ordinary people would not be able to afford it,' he sighed.

The Egypt unrest sparked brief panic among Gazans, who fear a fuel and food shortage. Over the weekend, cars queued outside petrol stations to stock up, but the lines vanished as Hamas issued reassuring messages that Gaza currently had enough reserves.

In a Gaza City cafe, a group of young men expressed deep concern about the unpredictable developments in Egypt.

'We depend on Egypt for so many things in our lives,' said one of the men, Mohamed al-Shawa.

'Egypt has always been our gate to the outside world,' he noted. 'I'm very worried about fuel. We're afraid that Egyptian fuel will be cut off.'

But it are not only fuel and construction materials being smuggled in. Weapons make their way through the tunnels, too.

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak has cooperated with Israel in fighting the weapons smuggling into Gaza.

In late 2009, Egypt began building an underground barrier along the border with Gaza to curb it, said to be made of steel, to include electronic sensors and run at least 20 metres deep.

Tunnel owner Hamza said the Egyptian security apparatus 'knows every single detail ... every tunnel' under the border. He said they ignore those used for bringing in food and fuel, 'but when it comes to tunnels that smuggle weapons, they shut them down immediately.'

'Egypt was only closing those tunnels to stop Israel's claims that it wasn't doing enough to prevent arms smuggling in Gaza,' he told the German Press Agency dpa.

It is uncertain whether a new Egyptian regime would continue the anti-weapons smuggling cooperation with Israel. It would be highly unlikely for the Muslim Brotherhood, for one, to deny weapons and funds to Hamas, its Palestinian arm, in Gaza.

An end to Israeli-Egypt security cooperation would have far- reaching consequences. One of them could be Israel considering reoccupying the southern Gaza border area.

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