Sisyphus and the Unresting Tunnel Diggers

Israeli Defence Forces do not come to an end in fight against tunnels in Gaza


Tunnels in conflict areas have already reached appalling fame in the past: from the sapping of fortified structures in medieval times to the tunnel system of Iwo Jima and the so-called tunnel rats in Vietnam. Even Afghanistan has seen a similar phenomenon, which led the Russians to train their own tunnel rats in the 1980s. However, the most recent use of ingenious underground engineering is being found on the southern border of the small but densely populated Gaza strip. Whether it is for supporting combatants and terrorists within the isolated territory or just to provide the civilian population with cheap goods, medicine and a possibility to flee the area, the Palestinians have dug hundreds of more or less sophisticated tunnels.

Connecting the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah with the Egyptian town of Rafah, the tunnels pass under the barrier that was erected in compliance with the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty signed in 1979 in Washington. This relatively fortified buffer zone, also called the Philadelphi corridor, has not been comprehensively controlled by Israel since 2005, when it handed over control to the Palestinian National Authority. The more severe demarcation is, however, being sustained by Egypt, which is afraid of letting Palestinian refugees (along with possible terrorists) cross into their territory. The corridor especially aroused public interest in early 2008 when Palestinian militants tore down several parts of the wall, allowing temporary uncontrolled border traffic.

However, since the border generally remains hermetically sealed and, particularly, terrorists and smugglers in the Gaza strip foster illegal border traffic, the construction of tunnels flourished during past years. That it is a key Israeli interest to stop weapons smuggling was clearly demonstrated in its three-week offensive launched in December 2008, during which hundreds of houses were demolished and suspected tunnels bombed by fighter aircraft. Due to the dense population around Rafah, it has been easy for the Palestinians to connect houses on both sides with tunnels, effectively hiding the entrances and storage rooms.

More than just a military target

The tunnels are generally dug at depths of approximately 15 to 25 meters (49 to 82 feet) and reach lengths of up to 800 meters (2,640 feet). Regardless of the well-concealed underground connections, the tunnel diggers and operators have a tough life as the general location is not difficult to guess (Rafah stretches along some four kilometres of the border) and the Israeli Air Force is not at all hesitant to strike at suspected tunnels. The Israeli Defence Forces claim to have discovered and destroyed some ninety tunnels, an estimated 95 per cent, in southern Gaza between late 2000 and mid 2004. As recent as the 9th of August, IAF fighter aircraft bombed a tunnel, allegedly used for weapons smuggling, in response to continuous firing of Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israeli southern communities from the Gaza strip.

Nevertheless, the tunnels are apparently not just used to provide terrorists with weapons and munitions. As a British newspaper reported, the tunnels have been advertised as opportunities for doubling and trebling money. It has become a more or less successful business throughout the years, but has also led to unimaginable losses for ordinary residents who have lost their homes after Israeli raids and house demolition. The true money-makers, believed to either be powerful businessmen in Gaza and, reportedly, senior officials in Hamas, have not been seriously affected by these measures and continue to foster this questionable source of wealth or collect taxes from the operators. According to economics minister, Ziad al-Zaza, whose office is investigating the issue, some $100 million have been taken fraudulently from would-be entrepreneurs. Other suggested figures reach as high as $500 million.

As Al Jazeera reported shortly after the Israeli offensive earlier this year, some residents invest large sums of money to participate in this business. The owners of the tunnel, which was visited by reporters, had spent about $90,000 for its construction and were smuggling everything from generators and computers to rice, chocolate and powdered milk into Gaza. Issa El Nashar, major of Rafah and co-founder of Hamas, told a German newspaper that, meanwhile, there are more tunnels than before the Israeli military operation. He stated: “We now have an entire border crossing in Rafah – all beneath the surface.” Some are supposed to be as large as 20 meters and allow easy smuggling of goats, cows and large vehicle parts.

Science against persistence

As present, measures which the IDF can resort to are confined to reacting, rather than themselves taking the initiative, it is now looking for a decisive technology that would provide the determining advantage. A rather unconventional attempt has recently been reported by the Jerusalem Post. In conjunction with the Defence Ministry's Research and Development Directorate (MAFAT), the OC Ground Forces Commander, Major General Avi Mizrahi, and the head of the Technology and Logistics Department, Brigadier General Shahar Kadishai, decided to send an officer to the US to conduct research on a system to detect and locate tunnels. Named only as Captain Asher, the officer will be working on possible solutions in a leading laboratory that specialises in discovering underground oil reserves.

After different approaches, including specially designed seismic sensors developed by a Rafael Advanced Defense Systems subsidiary, and the use of controlled random explosions underground and along the border to thwart the tunnel diggers (a method used by the US Army along the Mexican border), the newest effort might provide a more precise insight into the underground landscape of southern Gaza. The former solutions proved to be rather difficult to use in urban areas: detonations large enough to affect nearby tunnels may also damage or destroy the weakly built houses and acoustic and seismic sensors tend to pick up false readings due to water pipes and sewer systems.

Nevertheless, any technological solution will not end the Palestinians’ persistence in getting what they need in goods or weapons from abroad. The IDF may perhaps make it more costly and risky, but they will most likely not prevent the smugglers from somehow achieving their goal. As in many other conflict areas, it remains a question whether to fight the means or the origin. Just as piracy on the Horn of Africa will not be eliminated by sending warships, as long as the conflict in Somalia does not come to rest, this particular phenomenon in Gaza won’t end by means of air raids and house demolitions. Not the IDF, but only the involved parties can make the decisive change, which will have to be much more comprehensive than ending the construction of tunnels in southern Gaza. It is especially an opportunity for the international community to excell in a major peace-keeping and humanitarian effort. But, for the time being, any such efforts have almost vanished into inconsequential obscurity.

(This entry is an article I ogirinally wrote for the defence news site defpro.com in August 2009)