RAFAH, Gaza — It was Friday, the Muslim day of rest, but Gaza’s border with Egypt was a hive of activity. Men scraped sandy soil out of holes that had served as tunnels for smuggling, and were one of the main targets of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Now, less than a week after it ended, Gazans were back, plunging deep underground with lamps to carry rocky loads of soil out on pulleys.
“Everybody’s busy rebuilding now,” said a manager of one digging team. “In a month, it will be back to normal.”
The defiant pose seemed surprisingly brazen in light of recent events: Israel said smuggling tunnels were a prime concern, after Hamas rockets, in attacking Gaza, and it hit dozens of them in airstrikes during the war. But the tunnels are the principal livelihood for many people here, and as soon as the bombing stopped, they were right back in them with their shovels.
The revival may challenge what Israel sees as one of its main accomplishments in the war, crushing Hamas’s ability to rearm, and has drawn bitter reactions from residents, who say it is proof the war was a useless enterprise.
“The war was for nothing,” said Mahmoud Abu Adnan, a grocery store owner.
But Israel argues that very soon the tunnels, restored or not, will not matter as much. It has secured agreements with Egypt and the United States that will make this smuggling route far less important. The details have not been made public, but Israel says it is confident they will work.
“What is different today is that there is a good international commitment to prevent the link-up between Iran and Hamas,” said Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli government. “We believe that Hamas will not be allowed to rearm.”
That commitment has yet to be tested. While Israel said that about 80 percent of the tunnels were out of commission after the bombing, Gazans seemed skeptical that anything would change.
“They can destroy as much as they want, but the tunnels will just come back,” Mr. Abu Adnan said.
That spirit of defiance is at the center of the Gazan psyche. Many people here do not condemn Hamas rockets, arguing vociferously that they are the only way Gaza can protect itself from Israeli aggression. The economic blockade, they argue, and the Israelis’ unwillingness to lift it, is justification for the attacks.
“Do you think we’d be busy digging underground if there was no embargo?” said Ahmed, a tall man in a leather jacket who was overseeing work on his tunnels on Friday. “If there was no embargo, we’d have real jobs.”
Ahmed, who did not want his last name to be used out of concern for his safety, voiced the assertions of others interviewed Friday, saying that his business had nothing to do with guns, and that his main imports were Pampers and cigarettes.
Israel says it does not believe that, and argues that a lot of the tunnel business is contraband weapons. Maj. Avital Leibovich, the spokeswoman for the Israeli military, said that before Hamas took power in a violent struggle with its Palestinian political rival Fatah in 2007, only four tons of explosives a year were smuggled in. Since Hamas took power, the number has risen to 100 tons, she said.
“This definitely became an industry of smuggling,” Major Leibovich said.
Gazans argue it is out of necessity. Israel imposed an economic blockade with Hamas’s takeover, limiting the flow of goods — particularly snacks like chocolate and chips and sodas — and tripling prices. The industry also soaks up a portion of this city’s unemployed young men, who earn $100 for every meter they dig.
“You have 25,000 kids who have no work,” Mr. Abu Adnan said, “so they go to work in the tunnels. It’s an important source of income here.”
The tunnels are located under dozens of giant plastic tents that look like greenhouses. Those who came for the first time since the war did not recognize the area, the bombing was so extensive. The explosives made the tunnels smell strange.
“This will give us greater skills,” said one digger. “We’ll become artists.”
Israel has contended that the bombing is a way to drive a wedge between the people and Hamas, but it seems to be having precisely the opposite effect. A tunnel manager in his 30s named Mahmoud said he had felt closer to Hamas since the war, because, however flawed, Hamas was the one group that stood up to Israeli aggression.
Palestinians, he said, standing in a striped sweater and brown pants, feel like second-class citizens in Israel, and contraband goods can help them feel first class.
“When I bring a salad, I see that my son eats it and finds it good, it makes me happy,” said Mahmoud. “It makes me feel human.”
The tunnels do not address the more important question of reconstruction aid. Though the focus internationally has been on who will receive the money — the West does not want Hamas to get any — here in Rafah, a far more urgent question is whether the Israelis will let materials through official crossings. Tunnels, managers said, will not work.
“Reconstruction now depends on the Israelis’ good will,” said Jabbar Qeshta, deputy mayor of Rafah, and a member of Hamas.
The municipality has 3 bulldozers and about 30 cement mixers, Mr. Qeshta said, but the most basic ingredient was missing.
“Tell them I want cement,” he said.
Nadim Audi contributed reporting.
source : nytimes
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