Egyptian flooding drowns Gaza's tunnel business

[6chars]

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-egyptian-flooding-drowns-gazas-tunnel-business-2015-11

Mahmoud Bakeer speaks with despair about the night of the flash flood, when he screamed at his wife and five children to flee their home on Gaza's border with Egypt as the water rushed in.

They made it to safety during the flooding last week, but a network of Palestinian tunnels running under the frontier town of Rafah is now water-logged, destroyed by Cairo to sever what it says is a weapons smuggling route out of Gaza for Islamist insurgents in Egypt's Sinai desert.

[COLGATE4]

1. But...But.... those tunnels are only for

peaceful uses...

[geek tragedy]

2. Israel's cheerleaders love it when Arab dictators harm Palestinians apparently.

Remember that the blockade of Gaza was intended to inflict human suffering on Gaza's population--to "put them on a diet."

What is left is an environmental mess, residents and local officials said, with the sea water polluting underground drinking reserves. The overflow has reached streets and homes within 100 meters (yards) of the border fence. Vast puddles and mud are everywhere.

"One cubic meter of sea water pollutes 40 cubic meters of underground water," said Tamer al-Sleibi, water department director in the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority in Gaza, who is concerned about long-term environmental damage.

Egypt's campaign, he said, could weaken the foundations of homes already on shaky ground due to tunnel-building and make land unfit for agriculture in areas near the frontier. There is also a health risk as the water turns stagnant, allowing mosquitoes and other disease carriers to breed.

Rafah Mayor Subhy Rudwan said the six wells that serve the city of 230,000 are threatened with contamination. "We are monitoring the situation along the border closely and we have noticed some collapses of ground in some areas," he said.

Last Friday, Rudwan said, Egyptian forces pumped in sea water from morning to night. "If they continue to do it, the lives and residence of people in the border area will be in danger, and they might be forced to quit their houses. We have appealed to Egypt to stop the flooding," he said.

There are very few cheerleaders for Israel who acknowledge the humanity of Palestinians. This is what Zionism has become--cheerleading Arab despots because those despots are actively harming Palestinians.

[shira]

6. Gazans are getting everything they need - minus weapons....

There is literally nothing Gaza cannot get for civilian purposes.

Egypt knows it doesn't want a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood like Hamas creating more havoc in the Sinai. Anyone clear-minded would understand this. Flooding those tunnels doesn't make Palestinians suffer at all. In fact, it can be argued that denying Hamas military aid will help Palestinians not get killed in future wars. No weapons, no more stupid wars.

[shira]

14. You're buying the Hamas propaganda - lock, stock, and barrel.

I think that's fascinating.

Look who they're "interviewing". Rafah Mayor, Environment Quality Authority in Gaza, etc...

Hamas mouthpieces.

==========================

Now of course you don't believe anything any Zionist says, but do some homework for yourself and trying finding ONE THING Gazans lack due to the blockade (besides weaponry).

Just one thing proving Gazans need tunnels.

I'm predicting crickets...

==========================

Anyone who knows anything about the tunnels knows they are Hamas' number one source of income. Hamas has everything to lose, not Gazans.

Egypt isn't harming Palestinians - THEY ARE HARMING HAMAS! And Hamas has folks eating their propaganda up.

Amazing.

Do you believe everything Hamas wants you to believe?

===========================

[font color = "blue"]Finally, here's the Journalist's (Nidal al-Mugrahbi's) Twitter Timeline:[/font]
https://twitter.com/nidalal?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[font color = "red"]It reads like Hamas propaganda, or the Mondoweiss Twitter timeline. You wouldn't know there were Palestinians attacking any Jews at all - just IDF killing Palestinians for no reason.[/font]

[leftynyc]

3. I'm sure we'll be treated

to a few choruses as to why this is Israel's fault.

[6chars]

4. It's more human tragedy.

I don't see it as having much to do with Israel. But it illustrates how the Palestinians are caught in the middle of some major movements in the Arab and Muslim world. I see Hamas (and its enablers) as a particularly unhelpful actor to the Palestinians in helping them navigate this situation, and I don't see how the Palestinian's problems can be addressed without addressing shortcomings in their own leadership. Without excusing Egypt's harsh action here, the radical militarization and alliances of the Palestinian leadership in Gaza is not getting them anywhere.

[leftynyc]

7. The Palestinians have always

been cursed with lousy leaders - voted in and otherwise. They've been promised the world and get nothing in return but rhetoric while their leaders line their own pockets or use the money meant for schools and hospitals to build tunnels and buy weapons. They've been used by other Muslim leaders to distract from what is going on with under-represented people in their own countries. It's really no wonder that religious fanatics have taken hold of the region. It seems they've tried everything else. But the Palestinians can't get anywhere without sitting down with the Israelis...that's the reality.

[grossproffit]

5. Some would blame Israel for their erectile dissfunction.

Not here, of course.

[6chars]

11. on this one, lots of crickets from the greatest human rights advocates

If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no way to blame Israel, does it make a sound?

[shira]

12. Well.....now that you mentioned it. n/t

[shira]

8. We'll be treated with calls to arm Hamas via the Egyptian tunnels....

You know, rockets and other toys for "self-defense" purposes.

[leftynyc]

9. I've been wanting to apologize

for derailing your story about the Maccabean fortress which was a very interesting story. I'm still furious about that stunt with the UNESCO vote and will be for a very long time. That we have those that defend that bullshit by claiming it was perfectly innocent makes me want to vomit. Again, apologies.

[shira]

10. No need to apologize. n/t