What it Really Means to Bomb the Gaza Tunnels

by Laura Dean · 2010-03-24 07:23:00 UTC
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Why is a goat, say -- or a box of women's underwear -- considered contraband?

To get that answer, you'd have to ask the Israeli government. Last Friday, the Israeli army launched a series of air strikes out of Apache helicopters to register their displeasure over a rocket attack on Israel that killed one farm worker. The attack was claimed by a previously unknown rebel group, Ansar al-Sunna (which opposes the Hamas-led government in Gaza). The air strikes hit several targets inside the Palestinian occupied territories -- at least three of which were tunnels that allow items from livestock to clothes to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government has done a pretty good job of portraying the tunnels as nothing more arms-smuggling passages, thereby legitimizing their 2009 attempts to obliterate them. But in truth, they are a lifeline to the Palestinian population currently confined within the bounds of the Gaza Strip.

To be sure, there are weapons tunnels that exist. But the majority of the goods that flow across the Egypt-Gaza border below ground are food and clothing, as well as medical supplies -- not so-called "contraband." Only items deemed "necessities" by the highly fickle Israel Defense Forces are allowed to pass the above-ground checkpoints into Gaza -- and at one point, both strawberry jam and pasta were on the "prohibited" list.

These seemingly arbitrary prescriptions have dire consequences. In the Gaza Strip, food security is perpetually in doubt, as is the filling of certain medical prescriptions. Several of Gaza's main medical facilities were knocked out during the Gaza war over a year ago. And while some are operational again, a few have yet to be rebuilt, making basic care even more difficult to obtain.

The solution? It's been said before and bears repeating: Ease the restrictions on food and medical supplies at the checkpoints, so that legitimate items can pass through them. If Gazans could stop relying on smugglers to meet their basic needs, perhaps then the tunnels would more closely resemble the arms-smuggling highways they are often claimed them to be. In the meantime, attacks on the tunnels jeopardize an important source of food and medicine.

Photo Credit: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

Laura Dean lives in Washington D.C. She has written and conducted research for the Nation, the Huffington Post and Al Jazeera English and has written about women's health and gender based violence.
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