Response to New York Times Article “As Egypt Floods Gaza Tunnels, Smugglers
Fear an End to Their Trade”
09 Oct 2015 by Ahmed Abu Zeid
http://mfaegypt.org/2015/10/09/response-to-new-york-times-article-as-egypt-floods-gaza-tunnels-smugglers-fear-an-end-to-their-trade/

The article published by the New York Times On 7 October 2015, with the
title “As Egypt Floods Gaza Tunnels, Smugglers Fear an End to Their Trade”
ironically criticises the Egyptian government for seeking to limit illegal
smuggling across its borders. The opening paragraphs of the article are
audaciously intended to make the reader sympathise with the smugglers,
stating the following “On a humid night in Rafah recently, six Palestinian
smugglers sat around a backyard table, ticking off the damage that Egypt has
done to their tunnels over the past two years… the smugglers fear that Egypt
has settled on a strategy that could spell doom for their trade… ‘This is
the end for us,’ said Abu Jazar, a 42-year-old smuggler”. By falsely
referring to this phenomenon as “trade”, rather than illicit smuggling
across an international border, which is what this really is, the NYT is
trying to obfuscate reality, giving a veneer of legitimacy to what is
essentially an illegal practice condemned by international and domestic law.

Could the NYT possibly not know that it is every State’s sovereign
prerogative, indeed international duty, to defend and secure its borders
against all kinds of illegal smuggling? What if that smuggling was taking
place through clandestine, hidden, underground tunnels that can neither be
monitored nor controlled? Would that not make the issue all the more urgent?

Illicit smuggling across borders, with the Egypt-Gaza border being no
exception, is indeed a lucrative business. This is why the smugglers will
always lament and try to circumvent attempts to regulate or eliminate their
source of prosperity.

The article understates the concentration of profits in the hands of illegal
tunnel operators, businessmen and investors, who will go to great lengths to
maintain their steady flow of cash. For instance, they have been known to
employ “nimble-bodied” children to dig the tunnels, who have often died in
the process. In fact, the NYT’s attempt to lay the blame on Egypt for the
contraction of Gaza’s economy, the rise of unemployment, poverty and
constant power cuts is nothing short of absurd. In case the authors’
memories are failing them, Gaza’s serious economic woes are, in fact, a
result of the persistent Israeli blockade, and Israel ignoring its
responsibilities as an Occupying Power that is in control of four border
crossings with the Gaza Strip. Easing restrictions on entry and exit through
these four crossings is what is essential to rebuild Palestine’s economy.

In fact, Egypt has done its utmost to alleviate the suffering of the
Palestinian people through hosting the 2014 Conference on Palestine, under
the slogan “Reconstructing Palestine”. Advocating the persistence of an
underground, illicit economy is not the way forward for Palestine and does
not provide the Palestinian people with the long-term, sustainable,
productive economic activity that they need.

Over and above, the NYT’s report is deliberately oblivious to the fact that
the smuggling tunnels pose a significant threat to Egypt’s national
security, fuelling and supplying terrorists in the Sinai. After all, if
commodities can be smuggled undetected across a border, what is to stop
weapons, human beings and historical and cultural artefacts from being
smuggled in the same way? There is plenty of evidence that narcotics and
human traffickers have repeatedly exploited the tunnels. Convicted criminals
are known to have escaped through them. Weapons and firearms are constantly
being smuggled across them. Antiquities are being trafficked in a way that
threatens Egypt’s cultural heritage and promotes the illicit financing of
terrorism. Is this the kind of lawlessness the NYT is advocating?

Paradoxically, when the borders and tunnels are not well secured, Egypt is
criticised for acquiescing to smuggling and threatening Israel’s security.
This leads to a Catch-22 scenario in which we are essentially “damned if we
do, damned if we don’t”.

This article proves, once again, that the NYT’s biased reporting is intent
on discrediting Egypt’s image in any possible way, for any possible reason.
It is far from the standard of responsible and objective reporting expected
from a media outlet of that reach. Beyond misleading and deceiving its wide
readership, which is a feature of all NYT reporting on Egypt, this time the
paper has gone a step further, advocating what would amount to a situation
of lawlessness and chaos.

* Counsellor Ahmed Abu Zeid is the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Egypt