Ediblog.com
Egyptian Tunnels To Heaven
By Ariel Natan Pasko
For some time now, I've been watching with
astonishment the occasional cat and mouse game of "find the arms smuggling
tunnel" in Gaza. I'm not astonished that the Israelis keep finding them.
I'm not astonished either, that the Palestinians keep digging them. And, I'm
certainly not astonished that the Palestinian Authority doesn't try to stop
them. They probably have gotten their best weaponry via the tunnels. What
astonishes me is that with all the media coverage about arms smuggling, drug
smuggling, and prostitute smuggling from Egypt; the Israeli government and media
have yet to place the blame squarely where it belongs. On Egypt!
So, recently Israel went on another search and destroy mission in Rafiach/Rafah,
code named "Operation Root Canal". After a few of days of
house-to-house searches, they destroyed three large tunnels, then pulled out
their troops and went home. The Israeli Army believes that there are at least
another 10 tunnels operating in the area. These tunnels are 12-14 meters deep
(more than 35 feet) and in some cases hundreds of meters (yards) long.
Senior Israel Defense Force officials said they would continue to operate
against the tunnels, until the PA makes a strategic decision and does so itself.
Government spokesman Dore Gold said Israel was forced to go after the terrorist
groups and their infrastructure because the Palestinian leadership had not done
so. "In uncovering the vast network of arms smuggling tunnels in the area
of Rafah, Israel is compelled again to do the work that the Palestinian
Authority is supposed to do," Gold said.
Israeli military officials, said Israel had intelligence warnings that
Palestinians were planning to use the tunnels to smuggle in anti-aircraft
missiles, weapons that could have a strategic impact on the three-year conflict.
They said Palestinians were trying to get shoulder-held Stinger missiles that
could shoot down attack helicopters Israel often uses in Gaza, and could also
threaten Israel Air Force planes or civilian aircraft flying close to the
coastal strip. They also said, the Palestinians were trying to smuggle in
Katyusha rockets, which would have the range to hit Israeli cities near Gaza.
The officials said Egypt was not taking steps to stop the smuggling. So far this
year, the military said it has destroyed 33 smuggling tunnels in the area.
IDF officers reported that the significant resistance they encountered on the
Palestinian side surprised them; the Arabs used automatic weapons, grenades,
anti-tank rockets, and bombs. Sure the fighting was stiff. First, weapons
smuggling is the lifeline of the Palestinian "armed struggle". Without
an influx of more and better weapons, how can they aspire to "conquer"
Israel, or at least drive out the "occupation" - i.e. carry out more
terrorism. Now read that first sentence again, "...the Arabs used automatic
weapons, grenades, anti-tank rockets, and bombs." Second, they are using -
and will continue to use - stronger, better, more sophisticated weaponry, until
the smuggling is stopped.
Should that astonish anybody?
About grenades for example, in an interview of April 27, 1982 with Israeli Army
Radio, then Prime Minister Menachem Begin, spoke of such serious violations - of
the Peace Agreement - by the Egyptians, that he had threatened to postpone the
Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. The violations included, "the smuggling
of weapons and explosives originating in Lebanon from El-Arish, and we caught
more than 500 hand grenades. You can imagine how many people could have been
killed or wounded by such a quantity of grenades," Begin said. "We
also demanded of the Egyptians that they end this smuggling, and indeed,
President Mubarak, in his letter to me of April 16, made a commitment to prevent
the smuggling and combat it," Begin promised. So, Egypt is on record
"to prevent the smuggling" of weaponry from its territory into Gaza.
But Israel has never made a serious effort to "enforce" the Peace
Agreement commitment by Egypt, to stop the smuggling. Or for that matter any
other commitment by Egypt.
Violations of the treaty abound, for example, Egyptian troop movements into
demilitarized areas. Egypt has put a division into Sinai, which is really a
skeleton of four divisions that could be inflated quickly if they decided to
attack. Or, bridgeheads constructed on the east bank of the canal, for quick
entry into Sinai. All of Egypt's military planning and exercises have presumed a
war to their east. Who else if not with Israel? Israeli military intelligence
has noted an increasingly aggressive military posture in the last 4-5 years and
has voiced, "quiet concern". Why be quiet about it?
Weapons smuggled into Gaza - as already noted - through tunnels that begin near
Egyptian military positions in Sinai, end up in the hands of Palestinian
terrorists. It has reached epidemic proportions. When Israeli Defenses Forces
blew up tunnels in a past effort not long ago, they saw the smoke rise at the
other end, next to the Egyptian positions.
The withdrawal of the Egyptian Ambassador from Israel just after the outbreak of
the current Oslo War is also a clear violation of the treaty. As is the ongoing
calls for professional and economic boycotts of contacts with Israelis.
Finally, there is continuing Anti-Semitism and incitement against Israel in
Egyptian textbooks and in the Egyptian media. For example, a recent hit song
played on the radio, entitled, "I Hate Israel", political cartoons in
newspapers reminiscent of the Nazi era, and a recent TV series based on The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion. There seems to be no effort on the part of the
Egyptian government to educate its people toward peace, or ban incitement to
hatred against Jews and Israel.
Yet, according to the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt of March 26, 1979:
Article III 2. Each Party undertakes to ensure that acts or threats of
belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not committed
from within its territory, or by any forces subject to its control or by any
other forces stationed on its territory, against the population, citizens or
property of the other Party. Each Party also undertakes to refrain from
organizing, instigating, inciting, assisting or participating in acts or threats
of belligerency, hostility, subversion or violence against the other Party,
anywhere, and undertakes to ensure that perpetrators of such acts are brought to
justice.
Egypt generally hides behind the mask of "free speech" or
"academic freedom" when Anti-Semitic and inciteful behavior is
addressed. But just as Israel has laws against racial incitement against Arabs,
Egypt is treaty bound to legislate and enforce laws against hostile activities
and incitement against Jews and Israel. One can measure how
"successful" the Peace Treaty with Egypt has been over the last 25
years, by the lack of this enforcement on the part of the Egyptian government.
But more importantly, the Egyptian government is directly responsible for the
military violations of the treaty, and their turning of a "blind eye"
on arms smuggling from the Sinai - now their sovereign territory - into Gaza. Is
that "woeful ignorance", "passive acceptance", or
"deliberate assistance", on Egypt's part, in this arms smuggling
adventure?
In a recent expose, entitled "The case against Jordan" Alan Dershowitz
reminds us that "Jordan has a law on its books explicitly prohibiting
any Jew from becoming a citizen, or any Jordanian from selling land to a Jew. It
has refused to amend this law despite repeated demands." That, "Jordan
has perfected the art of torture and uses it routinely against dissidents,
suspected terrorists and perceived opponents of the monarchy." And that,
"Jordan killed more Palestinians in one month, September 1970, known as
Black September than Israel has killed during the three years of suicide
bombings that began in the fall of 2000. The brutality of the Jordanian Army
toward Palestinian dissidents and terrorists was far more egregious than
anything Israel has ever done." And Dershowitz reminds us of much more.
Yet by contrast - and I'm no fan of Jordan - at the same time that Israel is
fighting arms smuggling from Egypt, without any help from their side; the
Jordanian Information Minister, Nabil Sharif, announced that the Jordanian Army
killed two armed men and injured two others as they attempted to infiltrate into
Israel. He said that Jordanian security forces searched the area and discovered
machine guns and ammunition, Israel Radio reported. There is much lacking in the
Peace Treaty with Jordan, for example, the level of incitement against Israel by
Jordanian professional associations, but at least they are taking "real
combat" seriously. What about Egypt?
Israel needs to publicly and loudly protest Egypt's treaty violations in the UN,
to the Americans and Europeans, and in the courtroom of international public
opinion. Ditto with Jordan. But with Egypt, unlike Jordan, Israel also has to
take specific actions to stop the arms smuggling into Gaza, "quiet
concern" isn't good enough.
Since the Egyptian and Jordanian "Peace Treaties" are held up as
models for future agreements with the Palestinians, Syrians, and others in the
Arab world; Israel needs to be honest about how "successful" they've
been, and how to prevent future failures as well. Israeli leaders have perfected
the questionable art of "serial ignoring". Ignoring the treaty
violations of the Egyptians; ignoring the treaty violations of the Jordanians;
and yes - that's what got us into this recent mess - ignoring the agreement
violations of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.
It's about time Israel either insist on complete adherence to agreements, or not
bother signing or upholding them, itself. There is a military solution, if
"peace treaties" don't work. Let's not be astonished anymore. Rather
than "Operation Root Canal", Israel should just pull the tooth!