Egypt's wall along Gaza border nears completion
Smugglers dimiss attempt to seal off Hamas-ruled Gaza: 'We'll just tunnel deeper'.
By DPA Tags: Egypt Israel news GazaThe reinforced underground steel wall which Egypt is building along its border with Gaza is nearly completed, Egyptian daily al-Shorouq reported Monday.
"Work on the main wall is in its fourth and final stage," the paper reported. Once that is complete, cameras and detection devices will be installed.
The process will take "a few weeks," followed by a testing period overseen by Egyptian and international experts.
The observation towers along the border are currently being replaced by new steel towers which employ bullet-proof glass.
General Sameh Seif al-Yazl, head of the Republic's Center for Security and Political Studies, said the towers had not been part of the original security plan.
"The death of soldier Ahmed Shaaban by Palestinian fire while he was in an observation tower led the authorities to look into building protective towers," he said, according to al-Shorouq.
Egypt says it is building the barrier to stop illegal arms smuggling. Smugglers have used cross-border tunnels to bring basic commodities, drugs and weapons into the Gaza Strip since the imposition of Israel's blockade of the territory in 2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza.
Smugglers have dismissed the barrier as ineffective, saying they will simply tunnel deeper, and that many of the tunnels are, in any case, already deeper than the new wall's reported depth of 20 meters.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Peace, The Pals do not want a Peace, They want the whole Pie. They can not even make peace amoungst themself.
1).Generally when sent to prison you have to be tried by a jury of you peers (at least in UK and US)... So when was Gaza convicted and by whom? 2). Yes agree with 1). Humans aint monkeys, how difficult can it be to tunnel under the new barrier - or even make it watertight? I wonder why the Egyptians are wasting the money on this - the trade between Gaza and Egypt has too many beneficiaries to clamp down on it anyway - has all the hallmarks of a "we tried to do something". Wouldn't it just be better to have a little common sense and reach a lasting peace?
Collective punishment of a population whose majority is under age 17 is evil. All thinking, moral people agree. Inevitably, Israel will pay the price for treating these hundreds of thousands of young people like animals. This kind of crime doesn't go unpunished - in one way or another. Sorry guy, but you're more racist than 'realist.' I was once close-minded too.
Prisons hold criminals. They would not be in prison if they were not trying to destroy thier neighbors. There are alot of Israeli Arabs that follow the rules of civilized sociaty. Even the west bank florishes. It is Hamas that is the criminal.
The people inside are hounded, enclosed, encircled and attacked. The countries to blame for this are Israel, the US and Egypt. It's sick.
I believe the Gazans when they say they will simply dig deeper. The Egyptians should have built a water-filled moat as well (hard to keep anything stable when it is sogging wet). They should also use underground sound-detecting equipment. But they won't, just relying on a metal plate for a false sense of security.