Gaza's tunnel economy
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 12:06AM 
Naturally, the Israeli graphic focuses on weaponry, but the larger truth is this is how most of the economy works--sad to say. It's like one giant "Shawshank Redemption" (or a gritty "Hogan's Heroes," depending on your ideological take).
Either way, it's an imprisoned society doing what people do when they face such circumstances: they adapt and work around the best they can--and the middlemen profiteer nicely.
Key point from FT story:
For close to three years [the length of the blockade], the tunnels below Rafah have offered a unique lifeline to Gazans, who are otherwise deprived of all but the most basic humanitarian supplies. They have also allowed Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the strip, to replenish its coffers and rebuild its military arsenal, making the tunnels a target for Israel.
The 200-300 surviving tunnels (there are air strikes) have become so efficient that "shops all over Gaza are bursting with goods."
But the local businessmen say this is no answer. They insist that the smugglers "are creating a false sense of economic improvement while damaging the territory's battered private sector." In other words, the tunnels bring in the same goods that could be produced locally, providing formal sector jobs--if the blockade was lifted.
One entrepenuer:
We are just replacing legitimate businessmen with illegitimate businessmen.
This is what gets you aid flotillas.
Reader Comments (1)
Life could be so much better if the Gazans would lay down their arm and make peace with Israeli. Why do they continue on the path their on? I realize that question touches on the complexity of the issue. A very simple solution with very complex reasons why the simple solution will not happen in my lifetime. ( I likely have another good 30 years in me.) Sad.