By Erin Cunningham
"RAFAH, Apr 29 (IPS) - Pick-up trucks speed westward on the Barth highway that flanks the Israeli border in Egypt's North Sinai region, stacked high with cartons of petrol. They are headed "for Gaza", the Bedouin residents of Barth village say – through the tunnels that burrow under the Egypt-Gaza border and are filling Gaza's aid gap in the aftermath of Israel's deadly assault on the territory.
The hundreds of subterranean passages that have fuelled Gaza's economy since its borders were hermetically sealed by Israel and Egypt in 2007 were one of the primary targets of Israel's three-week Operation Cast Lead.
Now largely rebuilt in the wake of a war that destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure and agricultural land, the tunnels that provide Gaza with food, fuel, medicine and other consumer goods may have become even more crucial as an economic lifeline, the World Food Programme (WFP) says......
Smugglers admit that trade has slowed as a result of Israel's firepower through the war, but that their work will continue as long as the siege is in place and Gaza's residents are deprived of what they need. "Tell the Israelis we are strong, that we have good hearts," says 20-year-old Salah, as he jumps barefoot into a tunnel to pull out a sack of grain. "We will not stop working, no matter how many wars." "
"RAFAH, Apr 29 (IPS) - Pick-up trucks speed westward on the Barth highway that flanks the Israeli border in Egypt's North Sinai region, stacked high with cartons of petrol. They are headed "for Gaza", the Bedouin residents of Barth village say – through the tunnels that burrow under the Egypt-Gaza border and are filling Gaza's aid gap in the aftermath of Israel's deadly assault on the territory.
The hundreds of subterranean passages that have fuelled Gaza's economy since its borders were hermetically sealed by Israel and Egypt in 2007 were one of the primary targets of Israel's three-week Operation Cast Lead.
Now largely rebuilt in the wake of a war that destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure and agricultural land, the tunnels that provide Gaza with food, fuel, medicine and other consumer goods may have become even more crucial as an economic lifeline, the World Food Programme (WFP) says......
Smugglers admit that trade has slowed as a result of Israel's firepower through the war, but that their work will continue as long as the siege is in place and Gaza's residents are deprived of what they need. "Tell the Israelis we are strong, that we have good hearts," says 20-year-old Salah, as he jumps barefoot into a tunnel to pull out a sack of grain. "We will not stop working, no matter how many wars." "
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