Israel Matzav

Gazans break through 'apartheid wall'

Gazans are protesting against the 'apartheid wall' that's going up in the 'West Bank' between Gaza and Egypt.

Today in Rafah (south of Gaza) some 700 people joined a demonstration staged in this portion of Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas Islamic radicals to protest against the underground steel barrier planned by Egypt along the only section of the Gaza Strip border that is foreign to Israel. The protesters gathered in front of the so-called Saladins Door, near the Egyptian border, but not in front of the main Rafah pass. The crowd included local residents, local Hamas activists and even one of the movements spokespersons who arrived from Gaza City, Sami Abu Zahri, who requested a halt to work in progress and the dismantling of the section of the barrier that has already been built. During the gathering people chanted slogans inviting Egypt not to choke the people of Gaza and to help the Palestinian people, while others carried signs saying Stop the siege or Enough walls and invoked Arab solidarity. Hamas security, present in force, however avoided any excessive approach to the border and incidents of any kind. The barrier, which was created with the help of American technicians, represents Cairòs reply to the problem of underground tunnels which allow the passage of vital goods to the Gaza Strip (which has been under an almost total Israeli blockade since Hamas rose to power in 2007) in addition to weapons, militiamen and illegal aliens. According to reports referred in recent days by the BBC and by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the project estimates a total final length of 10 kilometres for 30 metres of depth.

But the Gazans are doing more than protesting, and according to this report they have succeeded in cutting through the wall.

Sources involved in the tunnels used for smuggling told the website "Palestine - Al-Yom" that tunnel diggers were able to cut a section of the steel fence that blocked one of the tunnels. Smugglers predicted that the new barrier would not prevent them from continuing their smuggling trade.

The only thing that might work - stationing Egyptian troops in Rafah to monitor the Egyptian side of the tunnels - is unlikely to happen.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:08 PM