Egyptian security forces flooded smuggling tunnels that run between Egypt and Gaza this weekend, as Egypt appeared to be resuming its commitment to restore order to the beleaguered Sinai Peninsula and quell the flow of contraband into Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Hundreds of underground passageways snake under the Egypt-Gaza border, providing a way to maneuver around the 2007 Israeli-led economic blockade that took effect after the Islamic militant group took control of the Strip. The tunnels bring in everything from food and medicine to cement and iron, and provide up to 75 percent of the goods that stock Gazan shelves according to an analyst in Gaza City. The tunnels also facilitate the flow of weapons and militants in and out of the enclave. That poses a problem for Egypt—a country already embroiled in domestic instability.
Though the tunnel industry has contracted since Israel allowed more goods through the crossing in 2010, Gazans say they still need the passageways to supplement what the Israelis have allowed in, making the tunnels necessary for the survival of the Strip and its population of 1.6 million.
There was hope Egypt would be kinder to Gaza after Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi won the country’s first free and fair presidential election in June, but Mursi has not eased the blockade. Instead, after unknown militants launched an attack on an Egyptian army outpost that killed 16 soldiers in August, Mursi appeared on television and vowed: “The security forces will implement total control over all of these areas within Sinai and will ensure they are controlling it. Those behind the attacks will pay a high price as well as those who have been co-operating with those attackers, be it those inside or anywhere in Egypt.”
Egypt’s Sinai, especially the more impoverished north, has been seen as increasingly lawless since the uprising that deposed Hosni Mubarak two years ago. Security forces pulled out of the Peninsula and have not fully brought the territory back under control since. After the August attack, Egypt said the militants had come from Gaza and so they flooded dozens of passageways.
Flooding the tunnels has been Egypt’s chosen method for clamping down on the trade, which relies on rough plank-lined passageways dug through sand. Israel has relied on areal bombardment—a tactic employed in the most recent war in November 2012 and in 2008 Operation Cast Lead.
In 2009, under Mubarak’s reign, Egypt began building an underground barrier to prevent tunneling—the 100 foot deep steel wall was deeply unpopular and further entrenched Mubarak’s domestic image as an instrument of U.S. and Israeli foreign policy. The wall failed to cut off the flow of goods through the tunnels and has not been completed.
Working in the underground trade has always been a gamble—even without attempts from Egypt or Israel to shutter the industry. Injuries from tunnel collapse and electrical fires inside the passageways are persistent, even as Hamas has started to regulate the trade.
Emad Shaaer, a tunnel owner in Gaza, told Bloomberg Businessweek recently that owners of passageways are obliged to compensate their injured workers. Shaaer said he paid $7,000 for hospital treatment of one worker wounded by a generator and $10,000 each to the families of two men killed working in his tunnel. Fierce winter storms this January took a toll on the industry, with multiple tunnels collapsing from flooding and at least six deaths according to an NGO cited by a Reuters report. Tunnel workers say they understand the dangers involved in the job, but continue to ply the routes because the wages are good compared to what is available in the impoverished enclave.
Egypt’s actions come as Hamas and Fatah, the more moderate Palestinian faction, met in Cairo to discuss reunification. There has been no final outcome and media reports suggest the two sides continue to be at odds over the future of a Palestinian unity government.
Topol is a Bloomberg Businessweek contributor.
