for those who didn't catch 60 minutes last night there was a really interesting story on the Gaza Strip. Not that I normally watch current affairs, it was just on so I happened to watch it, never the less it really sparked my interest.
Firstly this is a totally non-political post as I have ZERO idea of any of the politics behind anything going on in the middle east. Merely an interesting scenario that has arisen
Basically Israel has but a blockade around the Gaza strip since they think Hamas (sp?) are being a bunch of twats smuggling arms and training terrorists. So their solution is to be a bunch of twats and not allow anything that they don't condone in and out of the region.
So the people's solution has been to build tunnels under the walls to smuggle goods into the Strip. From such basics as food and medicine to electronic goods and of course weapons and armour. Now everyone knows this is going on, basically there are about 600 active tunnels operating, each one has a tent at its entrance to cover it. So not exactly hidden. Tunnels go to both Israel and Egypt.
The tunnels are very lucrative for the owner's as the illegal goods will obviously fetch good prices but obviously very risky to build and every now and then when Israel hears of weaponary being smuggled they like to bomb the tunnels
NEWS ARTICLE
so from my perspective the whole situation is just crazy, everyone knows whats going on, Israel aren't stopping it from their side, Egypt are pretending like they don't know or simply don't care and obviously the Gaza people need the goods. Humanitarian aid has to negotiate with the Israeli border security to get the basics across, cement, iron, steel and other vitals to rebuild the housing and buildings destroyed by the bombing done by the Israel army!
Its unfortunate that people need to take such measures to get access to things we take for granted, it sure makes me happy to live in the "lucky country". Its also just as unfortunate that these tunnels used for legitimate items will always be utilised for the much sought after, and more highly lucrative arms trade.
2 comments:
Nice to see you're interested in the topic :)
I do encourage you to look into the situation further, as Liam Bartlett has clearly stated on his blog that the political situation wasn't taken into account in the making of the story. It was a very biased and somewhat damaging report, especially considering the current situation and media frenzy surrounding the Hurva Synagogue / Al Aqsa mosque.
not that its the same reasoning but they do the same thing on the US / Mexico border. just watch Weeds season 3 :P
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