Say what you will about them, but the people of Gaza are survivors. No matter what gets thrown at them, they find a way to get around it.
Just look at the tunnels at the south end of the Gaza Strip. First developed when Israel began restricting supplies into Gaza almost three years ago, these remarkable passageways are burrowed down in the ground 33, 49 or even 66 feet. They then proceed some 550 yards or more under the border with Egypt, before coming up again, somewhere, on the other side.
What began as a handful of tunnels, to get around restrictions imposed when Palestinians elected a Hamas government in 2006, grew in number along with the restrictions, until now, when there are hundreds of them.
Last week Gaza lifted a four-week ban on foreign journalists, allowing a look at conditions in the territory, which some had warned was facing a "humanitarian catastrophe." Although conditions in Gaza are far from ideal, many Gazans are able to get by on what the tunnels provide.
Controlled by Hamas, which takes a percentage, the tunnels tend to specialize. The earliest were used to bring in weapons; more recently they get around Israel's siege of Gaza. Some bring in meat -- last week, entire flocks of sheep and goats made their way through tunnels in advance of the just-concluded Eid al Adha feast -- others carry gasoline, propane tanks, generators, diapers, even motorcycles.
Prior to Israel's complete closing of border crossings on Nov. 4, the tunnels accounted for an estimated 35 percent of Gaza's goods. Today they are responsible for a much higher percentage and are a big reason why Gazans aren't starving.
Coupled with a large surplus of fruit and vegetables intended for markets in Israel, the vast majority of people here aren't wanting for food.
Reports that as many as 50 percent of children are suffering from malnutrition are exaggerations, says Khaled Abdel Shaafi, director the United Nations Development Program.
"This is not a humanitarian crisis," he said. "It's an economic crisis, a political crisis, but it's not a humanitarian crisis. People aren't starving."
That doesn't mean it's pleasant, he said. "It's like a prison: You have shelter and food, but it's not a nice place to live."
The tunneling is being carried out right under the noses of both the Israelis and Egyptians. While early tunnels were dug clandestinely from inside homes along the border, these days they're being dug in the shade of simple tarpaulins, with mounting piles of dirt all around -- easy to spot from Israel's lookout tower to the west, and its eye-in-the-sky zeppelin tethered at a nearby kibbutz.
When there only were a few of them, Israel denounced the tunnels. But, now that there are hundreds, they've been strangely silent.
(E-mail Patrick Martin at pmartin(at)globeandmail.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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