Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Now we all know that Egypt could stop the smuggling by declaring a band of
sovereign Egyptian territory next to the Gaza Strip "sterile territory" -
moving everyone out in exchange for compensation.

But that would actually work.

So now we have the idea of spending a small fortune erecting a wall 30
meters deep.

Is 30 meters going to stop the smuggling?

Consider this:

"A Palestinian man receives goods from Egypt through a tunnel, which is
digged 35 meters underneath the border in Rafah."
Rafah Smuggling Tunnels - Life - Nerve For Gaza (Part 2)
8/04/2008 07:17:00 PM Posted by Editor Publisher Hiyam Noir
Author Hiyam Noir Photographer Fady Adwan
palestinefreevoice
http://palestinefreevoice.blogspot.com/2008/08/rafah-smuggling-tunnels-life-nerve-for.html

Oops.

So who benefits from the steel wall project?

#1. The contractors who build the wall.

#2. The officials who get bribes from the contractors for giving them the
work.

#3. The workers employed building the wall.

#4. The smugglers - who can continue smuggling.

#5. The Egyptian Government - because it can claim it is doing something
really serious this time to stop the smuggling instead of carrying out
activities that close down a few tunnels at a time but don't actually put a
dent in the smuggling (wink wink).

#6. The U.S. - because it can tell Israel to stop complaining about the
smuggling because they are spending a fortune on the wall.

Don't expect Israeli officials to comment on the efficacy of the project.

Conclusion: The smuggling will continue.

But more important is the policy ramification.

Once again we see that third party activity against illegal activity is a
farce.

Something for all the withdrawal advocates with dreams of relying on various
security schemes run by third parties to think about.]

Egypt building iron wall on Gaza border to stop smuggling

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 08:34 09/12/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133749.html

Egypt has begun the construction of a massive iron wall along its border
with the Gaza Strip, in a bid to shut down smuggling tunnels into the
territory. The wall will be nine to 10 kilometers long, and will go 20 to 30
meters into the ground, Egyptian sources said. It will be impossible to cut
or melt.

The new plan is the latest move by Egypt to step up its counter-smuggling
efforts. Although some progress had been made, the smuggling market in Gaza
still flourishes.

Egyptian forces demolish tunnels or fill them with gas almost every week,
often with people still inside them, and Palestinian casualties in the
tunnels have been steadily rising.

Recently, Egypt examined several possibilities of blocking the tunnels, and
joint American-Egyptian patrols have been seen in Rafah attempting to detect
tunnels using underground sensors.

Construction of the wall has already begun. It will be made of enormous
slates of steel, reaching deep into the ground. However, it is not expected
to stem smuggling completely.

Several defense sources told Haaretz they believe that once captive soldier
Gilad Shalit is released, Israel will have to re-examine the benefits of
closing Gaza off. The closure has been undermined by the tunnel system,
which provides not only munitions but food, cars, motorcycles, drugs,
medicine and fuel, much more than what Israel allows into the Strip through
the official border crossing.

The tunnels also allow people to cross in and out of the Strip, including
terrorists who linked up with pro-Al-Qaida groups in Gaza and tried to carry
out attacks in Egypt, defense sources said.

The smuggling industry is so institutionalized that tunnel operators
purchase licenses from the Rafah municipality, allowing them to connect to
electricity and water. Hamas has also been ensuring no children are employed
in the tunnels, and is taxing all smuggled goods.

The Egyptians often intercept munitions before they can enter the Strip and
have stepped up checks at internal roadblocks and checkpoints in the Sinai.
Observers say mounting American pressure is in part responsible for
increasing Egyptian efforts to combat the smugglers.