The Gaza Strip is a region along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea that Israel turned over to the Palestinians about ten years ago. Not long after that, the terror group Hamas staged an uprising and took control of the area and its nearly two million residents. Because of missile attacks and other terrorist moves coming from Gaza, Israel closed its border with the region except for a crossing which is very closely monitored. Most residents of Gaza are not allowed to travel into Israel. As a result, most trade into and out of Gaza went through Egypt which borders the Gaza Strip on the west. Relations between Gaza and Egypt were good for a while. Trade was so good that the Gazans built a series of tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt. The concept of the tunnels was that goods could come into or out of Gaza without the Israelis being able to see them.
A few years back, however, things changed. Hamas started supporting the terrorists in the Sinai peninsula who have been trying to bring down the Egyptian government. These may be the same people who brought down the Russian jet the other day. As a result, Egypt clamped down on trade. Nevertheless, the Hamas forces continued to smuggle weapons out of Gaza and to the terrorists in Sinai. In the last two months, the Egyptians have adopted a new tactic. Egypt now floods the tunnels with sea water and then waits for them to collapse. Out of 2500 there are only about a dozen tunnels left. The Egyptian efforts to pump sea water into the tunnels has resulted in contamination of part of the ground water in the region. The city of Rafah may soon have a quarter of a million residents who no longer have any non-polluted drinking water available. There is also fear that the introduction of salt water into the ground will ruin the soil for agricultural use. In other words, Egypt is not only stopping the flow of arms into Sinai and it is destroying the available potable water supply and much of the economic structure of the area.
So here's the key question: have you heard of all this previously? Most likely the answer is no. You see, this major operation against Palestinian terrorism is being done by Egypt as is the environmental harm. The media never covers this. Now just imagine what would happen if it were Israel that had done the same things as Egypt. There would be protests, over the top coverage and resolutions at the UN.
A few years back, however, things changed. Hamas started supporting the terrorists in the Sinai peninsula who have been trying to bring down the Egyptian government. These may be the same people who brought down the Russian jet the other day. As a result, Egypt clamped down on trade. Nevertheless, the Hamas forces continued to smuggle weapons out of Gaza and to the terrorists in Sinai. In the last two months, the Egyptians have adopted a new tactic. Egypt now floods the tunnels with sea water and then waits for them to collapse. Out of 2500 there are only about a dozen tunnels left. The Egyptian efforts to pump sea water into the tunnels has resulted in contamination of part of the ground water in the region. The city of Rafah may soon have a quarter of a million residents who no longer have any non-polluted drinking water available. There is also fear that the introduction of salt water into the ground will ruin the soil for agricultural use. In other words, Egypt is not only stopping the flow of arms into Sinai and it is destroying the available potable water supply and much of the economic structure of the area.
So here's the key question: have you heard of all this previously? Most likely the answer is no. You see, this major operation against Palestinian terrorism is being done by Egypt as is the environmental harm. The media never covers this. Now just imagine what would happen if it were Israel that had done the same things as Egypt. There would be protests, over the top coverage and resolutions at the UN.
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