[News] Anything you want, we can bring to the Gaza Strip
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Wed Mar 10 12:28:39 EST 2010
Interview: "Anything you want, we can bring to the Gaza Strip"
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11122.shtml
Jody McIntyre writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from
Palestine, 10 March 2010
The siege on Gaza is tightening as the Egyptian government continues
construction of an underground steel wall at the Rafah border with
Gaza to block the tunnel trade. The tunnels, which journalist Robert
Fisk has described as "the lung through which Gaza breathes," are the
only means in which most basic goods like food and medicine reach the
besieged population in Gaza. Jody McIntyre spoke with Abu Hanin, a
Palestinian laborer from Gaza who works in one of the tunnels at the
border with Egypt.
Abu Hanin: My name is Abu Hanin, I am 29 years old, from Rafah, on
the Palestinian side, and I work in the tunnels. I am married, with
five daughters and one son, and my wife is now pregnant with twins,
so after that we'll be ten overall.
Jody McIntyre: Do you talk to your family before you go out to work?
AH: They say to me every morning, "We hope you come back safe and
sound," because they know where I am going out to work. When I leave
my wife, I see tears in her eyes, and when I get back, I see
happiness. It's like going out to fight a war, every day.
JM: Why are you working in the tunnels?
AH: Because of the dire situation this is the only work here. There
is no way to live but from the tunnels. Every day you leave your
home, without guaranteeing that you'll be back. You're working while
being surrounded by death ... you are digging your tomb with your own hands.
JM: How are the tunnels built?
AH: They are all built with our own hands. The tunnels range from 7
to 35 meters in depth. After you dig down, you draw your line to
Egypt. You determine the width, usually one to three meters, and the
distances, usually a kilometer but sometimes 200 to 300 meters ...
however you like, you can build it!
JM: What goods do you bring in through the tunnels?
AH: Anything you want, we can bring to the Gaza Strip. Everyone knows
about the smuggling that happens here; we smuggle animals, water,
cars ... and even people, for example, if someone wants to come to
get married. I'm serious!
Most of the goods come from al-Arish. You are deemed as a "smuggler"
-- you are not working at [Israeli-controlled] Erez or Karni
crossing, so you are not an official worker, you are a smuggler. So
the people in al-Arish bring the goods to the entrance of the tunnel
on the Egyptian side, quickly sneak them in, and we bring them over to Gaza.
The tunnels for the cars are so expensive to build, because it has to
be three meters wide, [and as tall] as if you are walking in a room.
Imagine that you are walking in a room, that is 1.5 kilometers under
the ground, and then imagine how much that costs to build.
You may be shocked, but we have brought in camels. Imagine the size
of a camel! We put the animal on a sled-like contraption, and it
rides into the tunnel down a slope. We have lamps in the tunnel, and
every time we turn a lamp off, the animal will walk forward towards
the next light, until it reaches the well at the other end. Then we
handcuff the animal, and bring it up -- this part really is quite
perilous ... people have lost their legs. Donkeys are the most lethal.
JM: How many tunnels are there overall?
AH: It's difficult to know exactly ... but I'd say around 1,250. It's
funny to think that every stride you take around here, there are
different tunnels underneath you!
JM: Isn't it dangerous to have so many clustered together?
AH: No, on the contrary, it can work to our advantage, because if any
sand collapses, we can cross over into a neighboring tunnel. If
people get stuck in their tunnel, we can dig across into another
tunnel and help them out, otherwise they would suffocate from lack of
oxygen. We have learned that oxygen stays for 12 hours in the soil,
so after that has passed you need to get out.
JM: What equipment do you have in the tunnels?
AH: We have electricity. Oxygen, we don't care about so much -- now,
we are so used to being suffocated all the time, that we don't like
to be up in the open air! We prefer to spend most of our time down in
the tunnels. We also have an intercom system so that we can talk with
each other, lamps so that we can see and water, tea and instant
coffee to drink ... it's like a whole different life under the ground.
JM: Apparently, before the siege of Gaza was tightened in 2006, wages
were higher for tunnel laborers?
AH: Yes, that is true. Wages for tunnel laborers have dropped by a
third. Now, there is more demand, more tunnels and more laborers.
There were tens of tunnels, now there are hundreds, and on top of
that thousands of laborers. We work in two shifts, each tunnel needs
around 30 workers for the day shift, and another 30 for the night.
One shift to take the goods down on one side, and one to drag them up
at the other side.
JM: The work must take a lot of energy, so how do the older laborers cope?
AH: All the guys over 35 years of age work at the surface of the
tunnels, to collect the goods and transfer them to the vehicles. But
underground you need to have young, agile guys. The exit of the
tunnel in Egypt is like a bomb; you have to open the trap door,
quickly get all the goods in and then close the door as quickly as
possible, because if the police see us it would be a complete disaster.
JM: How many people have died working in the tunnels?
AH: Many people have died ... every month there are more casualties
in the tunnels from Israeli air strikes. We are dealing with fear
like a nightmare, a nightmare that rains down on you 24 hours a day.
Every day you are working in the tunnels, you are wondering if you
will get out alive. Many times the sand has collapsed ... death is
inevitable from this kind of work.
JM: Is the Egyptian government pressurizing you by building the steel wall?
AH: Of course, but our guys can find a solution. Nothing will prevent
us ... this is our only source of life!
JM: How will the steel wall affect the tunnels?
AH: The Egyptians are digging underground in order to establish this
steel wall. After digging, they pour sand, and then pour iron, making
a structure 28 meters in length ... it's the same structures that the
Israelis previously built in Gaza. It consists of layers, layer after
layer, until it is fixed in the ground. However, the tunnels are not
a new project, and many are still not affected, some old men have
built cities under this ground.
The thing we are afraid of now is that the Egyptians will supply the
iron with electricity, making a lethal electric fence, and add
sensors to flood the land below, which would make our mission
impossible. The Egyptians are more clever than the Americans and
Israelis put together ... in order to satisfy them, they will destroy
50 kilometers of land to establish this "electric water pool!"
JM: Will it be easy to penetrate the steel wall?
AH: God willing, because the tunnels were dug by the hands of our
ancestors, not us. If they could build these tunnels with their bare
hands, then we will not be stopped be a steel wall, we will cut down
the wall! Even if they put water, electricity, even if they put human
beings down there to stop our tunnels, we will evade them! You know
why? Because this is our only source of life left.
JM: Have the tunnels been beneficial for Egyptians?
AH: Very much so ... I went there with the owner of this tunnel, and
the laborers from Egypt take home $1,000 dollars. Imagine a normal
Egyptian makes 5-10 pounds ($1-2) a day from work, and the tunnel
workers are making 550 pounds a day. To them it is unbelievable, the
tunnels have made them rich. The factories, the shopkeepers ... they
have all benefited from the tunnels.
There are 80 million Egyptians and we are only 1.5 million, but we
have greatly influenced their economy because there is such a high
rate of unemployment in Egypt, and each tunnel creates 30 to 50 new jobs.
JM: Would you ever leave this job for alternative employment?
AH: Now, frankly, no. Even if the wages dropped, the tunnel work is
in our blood now. Even if there is no work we still go down into the
tunnels. We get accustomed to this life.
JM: How do you see your future?
AH: I don't have a future. As it is, there is no future in Gaza. I go
across the entire width of Gaza on my motorcycle in 20 minutes. How
can you see a future from within a box of matches? I take my sons
from the house to school and back ... they are so fed up. We will
live and die with the same routine. There are some people who feel
afraid of working in the tunnels, so they only have the walls of
their home and their UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestine refugees]
card to protect them. This is Gaza.
Jody McIntyre is a journalist from the United Kingdom. He writes a
blog entitled "Life on Wheels" which can be found at
<http://jodymcintyre.wordpress.com/>jodymcintyre.wordpress.com. He
can be reached at jody [dot] mcintyre [at] gmail [dot] com.
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