The Gazan tunnel economy making piles of money for Hamas insiders, for Hamas itself, and ...

...What's too-often forgotten when those criticisms are aired is that they protect those who make the money. Keep in mind there are virtually never any Gazan tunnels that run into or out of Israel. It's always into and out of Egypt. The Egyptians, for Egyptian reasons, have imposed a blockade and strict controls on Gaza for the past seven years, continuing up until today, on what passes into and out of Gaza. It's in their power to throw open wide the gates of Gaza with Egypt. But they don't. And so long as the Hamas regime is in control in Gaza, it's likely they won't.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
07 May '13..

This is a follow on to what we posted last night concerning Palestinian Arab corruption. In "6-May-13: European bureaucrats keep pouring cash into the dark recesses of the PA, while Palestinian Arab concerns are ignored" we looked at a report that deals with multiple issues of malfeasance and structural corruption.

The report touches on the Gaza tunnels meaning those running to and from Egypt. These are not overseen by the PA government, and so (as the report states) “great mystery still surrounded the revenues collected by the Gaza government through these tunnels".

Others are worried about the non-fiscal aspects of the Gaza tunnel industry. Just today, it was reported that

Egyptian forces uncovered 276 previously unknown smuggling tunnels under the border with Gaza on Monday. Egyptian security officials told Ma'an that 154 tunnels had been destroyed and 94 would be demolished soon. Security forces are struggling to destroy some 28 tunnels constructed under residential properties... [Maan News Agency, Bethlehem]

To understate things, Israel comes in for large, and mostly inaccurate, doses of criticism for keeping the Gazans locked in. But as the Maan report recalls, the reality is that Moslem Brotherhood-controlled Egypt has a significant shared border with Gaza. It's the tunnels on the Egyptian border that are being destroyed. And why? An Egyptian news report today quotes an unnamed military source saying

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