Gaza tunnels survived despite U.S., Israeli complaints

By Jonathan Wright

CAIRO (Reuters) - Tunnels linking Egypt and the Gaza Strip are back in the spotlight as diplomats try to work out an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The tunnels, a lifeline for Palestinians during months under Israeli and Egyptian siege, have long been a bone of contention between the Egyptian and Israeli governments, even threatening at times good relations between Cairo and Washington.

In two weeks of air attacks on the Gaza Strip, Israel has targeted areas close to the Egyptian border to try to destroy the smuggling tunnels.

Israel, the United States and the European Union have complained repeatedly about the tunnels, saying they allow the Islamist movement to receive weapons for use against Israel.

The United States has given money and training to help the Egyptians find and destroy them and a succession of foreign delegations have visited the border area to inspect their efforts.

But a mixture of complacency, petty corruption, pro-Palestinian sentiment, official incompetence and Israeli obstinacy have combined to keep the tunnelers in business, at least so far, diplomats and analysts say.

Egyptian officials also disagree amongst themselves on the gravity and urgency of the problem.

President Hosni Mubarak said in a recent interview that Hamas received most of its weapons by sea, a route that remains under Israeli control despite its decision to withdraw ground forces from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Isaac Ben-Israel, a lawmaker in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's party, said last year Hamas rockets fired from Gaza into the Jewish state were unlikely to have come from Egypt.

"To the best of our knowledge, they were smuggled from the sea, not through tunnels," he told Israel's Army Radio.

"In general, we tend to greatly exaggerate the gravity of the subject of arms smuggling from Egypt," Ben-Israel said.

But other Egyptian officials, implementing a policy of trying to weaken Hamas in favor of the rival Fatah group which runs the West Bank, have said the tunnels are a problem and the government is doing its best to find a solution.

"Egypt does have a certain responsibility (for the tunnels)," Abdel Moneim Said, a senior official of the Egyptian ruling party told reporters at a briefing on Sunday.

UNDERTRAINED CONSCRIPTS

The best solution, from Egypt's point of view, would be for Israel to reopen the crossing-points between Israel and Gaza to normal traffic, making the tunnel operations less important.