The Last Exile

It is very difficult to understand much of anything about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if your primary news source is the NY Times. Case in point this NY Times report of an incident involving the Israeli Border police and a Palestinian. The headline reads: Police kill a Palestinian Driver

JERUSALEM — Israeli border police officers fatally shot a Palestinian man in the contested East Jerusalem area on Friday after he hit them with his car, the Israeli police said, although the exact circumstances remained unclear.

A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said that two border police officers were lightly injured after being hit by the car in the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Wadi Joz and that the police were studying whether the driver had hit them deliberately. The driver was shot after he fled the car on foot and ignored calls by the police to stop.

Actually, the exact circumstances surrounding the shooting appear quite clear to me and can be found at the Israeli Leftie daily Ynet News:

Four Border Guard officers were lightly injured Friday after being run over by a Palestinian driving a pickup truck in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz. The driver was shot, and quickly died of his wounds. His body was later snatched from the hospital and he was buried at a cemetery near Temple Mount.

After the incident, the assailant attempted to escape by foot and was shot by a Border Guard force stationed in the area. He was critically wounded and died shortly afterwards. Police suspect the incident was nationalistically motivated.

According to an initial investigation, the Palestinian spotted Border Guard officers arriving at the neighborhood following warnings of upcoming riots. Soldiers belonging to a Border Guard training base were walking single file when the driver began speeding and driving towards them.

Some of the policemen managed to jump to the side, but four of them were hit by the vehicle and evacuated to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. The company commander began chasing the assailant, who tried to flee the scene. According to the police, he was shot after failing to obey the police’s call to stop.

The driver was evacuated by the Red Crescent to the al-Maqasid Hospital in east Jerusalem. Another passenger who was in the car with him was apparently injured by stones hurled at the road earlier and was evacuated to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. The police are looking into his version that the driver who ran over the officers was trying to evacuate him to receive medical treatment.

Now the only thing which is not clear is whether the injured Palestinian passenger in the car is telling the truth or not in regards to the driver’s motives. After all, he’s suffering from a head injury which he got at a rock throwing protest against the Israelis. Be that as it may what is quite clear is this – if you use your vehicle to run over 4 border police in Israel the Border police tend to preceive such actions as a personal intent to kill rather than just reckless and negliant operation of a motor vehicle.

My hasbara credentials should be readily apparent for even the most casual readers so what I want to say might strike some as odd but there is a Hello Uncle Erwin letter allegedly written by Amir – an Israeli naval commando who claims to have first hand knowledge of the attempted lynching on the Mavi Marmara in the flotilla of fools making the rounds of the blogsphere. And I quote:

“Hello Uncle Erwin,

This is Amir writing you after reading what you sent to my father, Eitan. As you know, it was my unit and my friends who were on the ship. My commander was injured badly as a result of the “pacifists” violence. I want to tell you how he was injured so you could tell the story. it shows just how horrible and inhuman were the activists. My commander was the first soldier that rappelled down from the helicopter to the ship. When he touched ground, he got hit in the head with a pole and stabbed in the stomach with a knife.

When he drew out his secondary weapon-a handgun (his primary weapon was a regular paintball gun: “Tippman 98 custom”) he was shot in the leg. He managed to fire a single shot before he was tossed from the balcony by 4 Arab activists, to the lower deck (a 12 feet fall). He was then dragged by other activists to a room in the lower deck were he was stripped down by 2 activists. They took off his vest, helmet and shirt, leaving him with only his pants and shoes on. When they finished they took a knife and expanded the wound he already had in his stomach. They cut his ab muscles horizontally and by hand spilled his guts out. When they finished they raised him up and walked him on the deck outside. He was conscious the whole time. If you are asking yourself why they did all that, here comes the reason. They wanted to show the soldiers their commander’s body so they will be demoralized and scared. Luckily, when they walked him on the deck a soldier saw him and managed to shoot the activist that was walking him down the outside corridor. He shot him with a special non-lethal bullet that didn’t kill him. My commander managed to jump from the deck to the water and swim to an army rescue boat (his guts still out of his body, and now in salty sea water). That was how he was saved. The activists that did this to him are alive, now in Turkey, and treated as heroes.

I’m sorry if I described this with too many details, but I thought it was necessary for the credibility. Please tell this story to anyone who will listen. I think that these days you are one of Israel’s best spokesman.

Thanks uncle Erwin, Shabbat shalom!
Amir

Gruesome,nu? There is no shortage of barbarism in the world – decades before the Chen-chen’s thought of Beslan; the Palestinians had already carried out Ma’alot. I remember very clearly what occurred under the Ramallah sun which began in the Palestinian Authority police station, but more importantly, I remember clearly and how badly – it ended for the two IDF reservists.

What happened on the Mavi Marmara wasn’t pretty by anyone’s standards but I remain highly skeptical of this account and believe its the work of a Hasbarist run amuk. I admit the writer had me right up until the jump. Why? Well, quite frankly, I have seen individuals with intestinal injuries of the sort where the bowels are hanging outside the body. No one so injured in such a manner as described would be able to swim to safety. Shock is the body’s instinctive response to sever trauma and it shuts the down all but the most basic levels in literally minutes. Swimming requires a complex coordination of not only the body but the mind. The mind might be willing but the nature of shock would have shut down all cooperation within the body. Somebody has spent too much time watching re-runs of Die Hard and such like movies.

I have no idea who started this chain email which is now being posted on blog’s all over the world as the G-d’s honest truth. There might even be elements of truth intertwined within the tale the letter writer tells but the letter is a lie and a fake. And a lie is a lie and serves no one well. There are enough lies already told in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to keep historians busy for the next ten generations that we do not need to add more to it. The truth, simple and unadorned, should suffice.

To the bloggers who are swept up in this and who have an invested interest in promoting this letter as truth on your blog I suggest that you remember – it is your ability to think critically and pause before you hit the publish button on your blog that separates you from animals who react to any stimuli from pure instinct alone.

There is one thing about the Helen Thomas meltdown which I think needs to be implicitly pointed out. Thomas made those statements pre-flotilla outrage. It wasn’t in the heat of anger and it came during the US White House celebrating Jewish heritage month. I think a little of my grandfather’s wisdom is in order – what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh and now we all know what fills Helen’s marrow.

I wanted to post this article from Arutz Sheva before Friday night but I ran out of time. I suppose I could have done it yesterday but I was being held hostage to the washer/dryer/stove and floors in the kitchen. The farmers of Gush Katif are being sued by their former Palestinian employees for dismissal indemnities and other employee benefits available to them as if they remained under the employment standards of Israeli law. The implications of this situation will continue to ripple outward and will loom large if there is every a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians and Israelis which involves the removal of any Israeli citizens from their homes.

What began several months ago as two “test case” lawsuits against a handful of farmers has swarmed into a deluge of over 80 lawsuits, with claims totaling hundreds of millions of shekels.  Aharon Hazut, coordinator of the Gush Katif Farmers’ Lobby, told Israel National News that the Knesset Audit Committee has taken up the cause and will meet with the appropriate government figures – but that no answer should be expected in the coming days.

The Gush Katif Committee and the Gush Katif Farmers Knesset Lobby are trying to fight back by raising funds for their legal defense. “We requested that the government find proper solutions for this issue and bear the responsibility for the consequences of the dismissal of the Arab workers following the expulsion,” Hazut said. “In the meantime, however, the farmers are required to respond to the plaintiffs complains within weeks. They need to appoint lawyers, file countersuits, and the like, and it is a costly endeavor. We desperately need NIS 250,000 ($65,000) immediately to help pay part of the farmers’ huge expenses to lawyers!”  
The question is whether the government will step in and assume responsibility for the Arab workers whose jobs disappeared together with the liquidation of the Jewish presence in Gaza. “So far the government has not offered to help at all,” Hazut said, “and some of the farmers have already had liens placed on their property because of  the suits against them. MK Zevulun Orlev, who chairs the Knesset committee, as well as MKs Uri Ariel, Ze’ev Elkin and others, are taking this very seriously and are helping us – but so far there have been no results.”

“We were not the ones to dismiss our workers,” Hazut said. “The government did – and fired us together with them! The situation of my former Arab workers is even better than mine; they at least still live in their homes, whereas I have been living for the last five years in a ‘transit camp.’” Hazut said that of the 400 farmers in Gush Katif, “only 39 have returned to work. Another 80 or so have found other types of work – but 70% of them are still unemployed! At age 50 and up, who can expect people who know only farming to find some other type of work? They’re looking and they’re trying, they volunteer with the police or learn in a Kollel – but they need work!”

Did I mention that five years later all claims for compensation from the Gush Katif refugees have yet to be paid out in full or the fact a substantial number have yet to receive permanent housing? The one thing the Arutz Sheva report doesn’t tell us is who are the Israeli lawyers who are filing suit on their behalf. Frankly, I would be surprised not to learn that any of the Israeli lawyers involved in this suit weren’t tied to Peace Now or the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Then there is the government’s silence on this issue which is perhaps understandable – given that if the Israeli government settles these claims, it sets a bad precedent. Remember, this represents the forcible removal of less than 10,000 Israelis just image the costs if the Israeli government under took to force the removal from the West Bank which would number anywhere from 50-80,000 people from their homes and businesses.

Then there is Iran. It is like the dogs of war are gathering for a perfect storm.

I have been informed I’m being a little uhm…harsh. Normally, I would just shuck it off but it comes from someone whose opinion I value so I gave it a little thought. I suggest you put it down to my inner Jew/Russian-Israeli/Judeo-Nazi. Mostly, why I am reacting the way I am is because I remember Jenin and the terrible aftermath in the media and with government after government condemning the Israelis over the alleged massacre which turned out to be nothing more than a shoot-out between IDF soldiers and a group of hard core terrorists.

In fact, I remember watching Larry King who gave an entire show over to the rantings of Queen Jordan who proclaimed the number of those murdered by the IDF was in the thousands. At the end of the brouhaha, the count of the dead numbered approximately 75 and came down to 23 for the IDF and 52 Palestinian. If the IDF was the force for nefariousness which its strident critics suggest it is; a well aimed missile would have taken out the lot without the shedding of a single IDF soldier’s blood. It was insistence of the IDF command to go in and fight house-to-house in the hopes of preserving civilian lives which was the path which lead to the death of IDF deaths.

The Jerusalem Post carries an interview with two of the naval commandos but I am going to quote from a small part near the end. I suggest you read it all and see how it jibs.

Based on preliminary results of its investigation into the navy’s takeover of the Mavi Marmara, which ended with nine dead passengers and more than 30 wounded, the IDF said on Thursday that the commandos were attacked by a well-trained group of mercenaries, most of whom were found without IDs but with thousands of dollars in their pockets.

The group was well trained and was split into a number of squads of about 20 mercenaries each distributed throughout the upper deck, the IDF said. All of the mercenaries wore gas masks and ceramic bulletproof vests and were armed with either bats, slingshots, metal bars, knives or stun grenades. The IDF’s understanding is that the mercenaries mainly chose dual-purpose items of this sort rather than guns, since opening fire would have made it blatantly clear that they were terrorists and not so-called peace activists.

Nevertheless, the IDF suspects that the group did have some guns of its own. Israeli forensic experts who examined the ship found casings belonging to a weapon that was not used by the commandos, and the Turkish captain of the ship later told the IDF that the “mercenaries” threw their weapons overboard after the commandos took control of the vessel.

I would like to point out that the IDF mission, while regrettable that the commandos were injured and lives were lost, did not fail. The IDF’s mission was to stop the flotilla which it did. While there are those who will protest that the successful mission was a public relations disaster and a screw up of nearly biblical proportions I would like to point out the knee-jerk quality and mass hysteria of the criticism which came immediately and without even the merest examination of the evidence. I would say this suggests that any Israeli action would have been met with the same mass hysteria and the baying for Israeli blood. The world only likes and revers dead Jews.

Like it, love it, or hate it; Israel is not like any other nation.

Yes, those spunky humanitarians are at it again. The Jerusalem Post:

Hamas’s security forces on Monday and Tuesday raided the offices of several non-governmental organizations in the Gaza Strip and confiscated equipment and furniture, drawing sharp condemnations from human rights groups.

The sources said the raids were carried out by agents belonging to Hamas’s Internal Security apparatus without court permission. Hamas spokesmen in the Gaza Strip on Thursday refused to comment on the raids.

After conducting a thorough search of the offices of the organizations, the Hamas security agents confiscated files, documents, computers, fax machines and other equipment. The agents also informed the managers and workers of the organizations of the Hamas government’s decision to close them down indefinitely. The Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights expressed outrage over the raids and called on the Hamas government to open an investigation.

“Al-Mezan condemns these assaults against NGOs and views them with much concern,” the center said. “Al-Mezan calls on the Gaza government to initiate an investigation into these acts, ensure full respect of the law, and protect the right of NGOs to work freely.”

According to affidavits given to Al-Mezan by workers at the NGOs, on Monday morning Hamas security agents stormed the NGOs offices in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The NGOs raid on Monday were: Sharik Youth Institution, Bonat Al-Mustaqbal (Future Builders) Society, the South Society for Women’s Health, and the Women and Children Society.

The security agents searched the offices and made a list of the equipment and other belongings. Later in the day, Hamas policemen returned to the offices of the same NGOs and called the directors by telephone. They confiscated most of the equipment and other items, including computers, faxes, cameras, documents and reports, in addition to the keys to their doors. The security agents informed the directors that their organizations were closed. They did not provide any reasons behind this decision.

The following day [Tuesday], Hamas security men stormed the offices of another two NGOs, the Palestinian Mini Parliament and the National Reconciliation Committee. They confiscated the keys to their doors and ordered them closed.

Despite busy bee quality of the humanitarians of the Gaza Strip; they still made time to express their love for their neighbours.

There has been a great deal of discussion concerning American diaspora Liberal Jewry and Israel. I haven’t really commented about it because the dilemma is not mine. Modern Liberalism can be a very fine thing but at the end of the day; it is not much of a shield to use to keep one safe from who invoke the ancient cry ‘Kill the Jews’ as a battle call to action.

It won’t save you from rocket attacks, being stabbed or bulldozed on the street, or being fired upon while driving your car or being blown-up on a bus or at the market or a mall. Of course, you can try it, but well, good luck to you. Then there is the fact that most ‘Liberal Zionists’ in North America aren’t particularly Torah observant either which would be my first guess why the connection is tenuous in even the best case circumstances. Be that as it may, I found this at the Jerusalem Post and thought it blog worthy.

The confrontation at sea between pro-Palestinian activists seeking to end the international blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israeli forces seeking to enforce the closure has put Israel in a difficult position. Despite the fact that the aim of the so-called “freedom flotilla” was to bring aid to the terrorist regime running Gaza, the deaths of several persons on board one of the ships that resisted the commandos who boarded the vessel has created a public relations bonanza for the anti-Zionist groups that organized the effort.

The chorus of condemnations raining down on Jerusalem only hours after the incident shows the depth of anti-Israeli passion around the world as governments, NGOs and UN officials all chime in with the usual refrains about the use of “disproportionate” force, as well as the myth about the ships seeking to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in a region where food and medical supplies are not barred by the Israeli and Egyptian blockade, which is aimed at forcing Hamas to either step down or recognize Israel.

But while Israeli spokesmen will be scrambling to tell their side of the story in coming days, the spotlight on “liberal Zionists” will be crucial in determining not only the way American Jewry responds to the crisis but the reaction from the Obama administration.

As with the case of Israel’s December 2008 counterattack on terrorist strongholds in Gaza after years of ceaseless missile attacks on its southern towns, this week’s naval confrontation offers American Jews a stark choice. They can back Israel or Hamas.

(…)Americans looking for a justification to excuse themselves from the more difficult task of explaining Israel’s dilemma to a hostile world may seize upon the convoy deaths as a fresh rationale for quitting the ranks of the country’s supporters. But if that is what amounts to liberal Zionism these days, then its adherents must be judged as, at best, fair-weather friends, and, at worst, little different from open anti-Zionists who implicitly support the Palestinian terror organizations and the elimination of the Jewish state. If liberal Zionism in 2010 amounts to backing Hamas’s propaganda campaign and the delegitimization of Israeli self-defense, then it’s time to admit that such liberals have left the Zionist camp altogether.

I know where, why and who I stand with, but who do you stand for?

Seriously, it’s the first word which comes to mind after reading the first paragraph at this Ynet News article.

Thirteen female European activists, arrested for their participation in the flotilla to Gaza, attacked Immigration Authority officers escorting them to the airport for their deportation, the Interior Ministry reported Wednesday.

Despite the calm that ensued following Monday’s violence aboard the Turkish vessel Marmara, the Immigration Authority claims some of the activists detained in Israel have been instigating clashes with the authorities.

The ministry said the young women began to riot in the police bus conveying them to the airport. “They yelled and cursed,” said an officer of the authority’s Oz unit. “They called us names and cursed Israel. When we arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport, two of them attacked me screaming, tried to push me, slap me, and scratch me. They yelled, ‘free Palestine’ and ‘Israel is a terror state’. They only calmed down after an entire team apprehended them.”

No one does peace activists quite like Palestinian supporters. If I can get serious for a moment, I haven’t always thought particularly well of CSIS but I certainly hope CSIS will be taking a few long walks and hard looks at the three Canadians who have allegedly taken part in the Flotilla of Fools and are due to be deported from Israel. If for no other reason than to monitor the type of violent radical types these three have been openly cavorting with.

While its easy to criticize the IDF’s decision to let Navy commandos board the Flotilla of Fools with paintball guns as their primary weapons, the fact remains the IDF evaluated the character of the peace activists using the world ‘peace’ and thought them nothing more than well-intentioned retro hippies ready to sing ‘Give Peace a Chance’ rather than an armed horde of thugs ready to do violence at the mere sight of sailors of the Israeli nation. I doubt the state of Israel or the IDF will ever make that same mistake again.

The outrageous behaviour of the Palestinian Peace camp has awaken the Israeli street from its slumber and demonstrations in support of the IDF and against Turkish perfidy have been happening around the country. Ynet News:

(Photo Michael Cherkassky)

“We fell into the trap they set us,” said Ronen Shuval, chairman of Im Tirtzu. “We convinced ourselves that they were peace activists, so the soldiers went on board with paintball guns instead of tear gas and weapons,” he said, referring to the raid in which participants of the flotilla resisted the soldiers, resulting in bloody clashes which left nine activists dead.

“We went out with three main messages,” he explains: “Moral support for the IDF and the navy, protest against Turkish hypocrisy, and a message not to yield to the other side’s psychological warfare.
“Various groups have tried to promote terror activities under the guise of human rights, and we fell into the trap and went into battle with paintball guns. We have to remind ourselves that a terrorist is a terrorist, and that’s how we have to deal with him.”

(Photo: Natan Gilat)”We set the system going at full volume,” he continues. “We held a huge demonstration in Beersheba, one of the most apathetic campuses in Israel, and we shook it out of its lethargy. We also held impressive demonstrations in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in Haifa, and one in front of the Turkish embassy. People on campus are motivated to participate. Another demonstration will be held tomorrow (Thursday) in Tel Aviv University, and a demonstration is planned in Haifa to take place at sea, under the title ‘We’re all navy’.”
 
“Our aim is to make people boycott Turkey and its products, to combat Turkish hypocrisy,” Shuval explains. “Our hasbara (official explanation) system is not good abroad because it is weak inside the country.”

Count me in on the boycott against Turkey.

Update: Arutz Sheva has posted videos of Israeli student demostrations in support of israel around the country.

The Toronto Star carries a fluff piece on one of three Canadian Peace activists who shameless took part in the Free Gaza Movement. One of the activists actually described his role as to defend the journalists aboard the Flotilla of Fools against the ‘vandals’ – known to all normal sane non-peace activist types as the IDF. Non-violently he alleges. But really now – how do we know he and the two other Canadians with him doesn’t have blood on their hands?

Are we to take him at his word…we all know what happened when the IDF made the mistake of taking the Free Gaza Movement peace activists as real ‘peace’ activists.

Dr. Dawg is allegedly on hiatus, but don’t think that’s stopped his blog from standing out for it’s progressive Canadian humanists who insist Israel is not only always wrong but evil too. Dawg’s found guest bloggers who share his personal bile. Allison at Creekside shared the limelight yesterday and I intend to share the joy. Apparently, Canadians are to be ashamed of the following:

Canada was the first country in the world to boycott Gaza for electing Hamas.

If a political-terrorist movement contains ‘death to the Jews’ as part as part of its charter and reason for existing, and is consequently, elected to a parliament; it is suppose to be a ’cause’ for celebration? I would think the calls to annihilate a group of people based on religious ethnicity was a bad thing but apparently its all good as long as your a ‘humanist’ and the victims are Israelis. Bad Stevie.

When Israel bombed Lebanon in 2008 killing 1400, Steve called Israel’s actions ‘measured’.

The only time Israel bombed Lebanon in 2008 was in Allison’s imagination. If she is referring to the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, Steve was entirely correct – providing he actually said that. We really have only Allison’s word on it – no link. Since Allison cannot be bothered to fact check the simple basic stuff in her posts; I wouldn’t take her say-so on the weather above her on any give day as a factually based – let alone her ability to accurately quote anyone’s words.

In fact, Israel had the power and ability to bomb Lebanon back to the stone age a few times over and didn’t. I remember distinctly watching that war and being disgusted at how the IDF was forced to operate under the trio of incompetents (Amir Perez, Ehud Olmert and Dan Halutz). It was an outrage.

What Allison deliberately chooses to ignore, deny or just is too plain ignorant to know (pick your poison) was the fact Hezbollah deliberately brought the war into Lebanon by firing rockets into Israel to act as a diversion while their ‘freedom fighters’ attacked two Israeli Humvees with the deliberate goal of kidnapping Israeli soldiers to hold for ransom/hostage. It wasn’t even the first time Hezbollah mounted such an operation but it was the first successful incursion in sixteen months worth of try. Nor was the Lebanese casualty count 1400 but props to Allison for not allowing her lack of numeracy to hinder her ranting. I suppose the only proper progressive response for Hezbollah’s outrageous acts of regression was for the Israeli state to lay down and die. It gets better.

We supported the Wall at the UN.

‘Cause when the Israel Wall went up separating the disputed territories from the approximate ‘47 Armistice lines it drastically cut down on the numbers of Israeli civilians injured, maimed and killed by Palestinian suicide bombers infiltrating the area. Oh, the infamy of it – since everyone knows Palestinian convenience must always trump Israeli life and/or limbs. The UN said so.

Canada had the largest delegation at last year’s Conference on Anti-Semitism in Israel and provides nearly twice the Canadian forces to man the borders of Gaza as does the United States.

Oy vey, more Canadian infamy. I am at a loss as to understand why having the largest delegation at a conference on Anti-semitism in Israel is a source of shame. I suspect it has something to do with the ‘Jew’ thingy which clearly gets under Allison’s skin and obviously rubs her the wrong way. Personally, I look forward to the day when Allison does share why the ‘whys and hows’ of how Anti-Semitism is not a bad thing – if for no other reason than the sheer entertainment value.

The Canadian Forces now man the border of the Gaza Strip. Who freaking knew? But more importantly, did anyone tell the IDF, Egypt or even Hamas for that matter? It must be one of the Elder’s operations since only a ’select’ few like Allison know about it. How she managed to circumvent the Elder’s security measures is beyond me. What’s the moral here? The world only loves and reveres dead Jews. Living ones – not so much.

Against this complicity by our own government in the three-year-old Israeli blockade of Gaza, we must raise our voices in support of international law. We must no longer allow our government to speak in our name here.

When the Flotilla of Fools made their intention to break the ‘blockade’ of the Gaza Strip public knowledge the father of Gilad Shalit asked them to deliver a small aid package to his son who is being held hostage by the Hamas dictatorship of the Gaza Strip – the Free Gaza Movement point blank refused such a small basic humanitarian request. But those ‘humanitarians for some’ are the people progressives often refer to as ‘heroes’.

The irony of the Free Gaza Movement was that apparently the aid was completely unnecessary. The UK Financial Times;

For close to three years, the tunnels below Rafah have offered a unique lifeline to Gazans, who are otherwise deprived of all but the most basic humanitarian supplies. They have also allowed Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Strip, to replenish its coffers and rebuild its military arsenal, making the tunnels a target for Israel.

Today, however, Nasim is more worried about the decline in business than he is about Israeli air raids. He says Hamas, whose security officers can be seen in the tunnel area, is taking an ever greater cut of the operators’ profits. Moreover, the prices of many smuggled goods have fallen in recent months, thanks to a supply glut that is on striking display across the Strip.

Some argue that Gaza’s tunnel economy is becoming a victim of its own success. Hundreds of tunnels have shut down over the past year as the result of greater Egyptian efforts to stop the flow of goods – and weapons – into the Strip. But the remaining tunnels, about 200 to 300 according to most estimates, have become so efficient that shops all over Gaza are bursting with goods. Branded products such as Coca-Cola, Nescafé, Snickers and Heinz ketchup – long absent as a result of the Israeli blockade – are both cheap and widely available.

However, the tunnel operators have also flooded Gaza with Korean refrigerators, German food mixers and Chinese airconditioning units. Tunnel operators and traders alike complain of a saturated market – and falling prices. “Everything I demand, I can get,” says Abu Amar al-Kahlout, who sells household goods out of a warehouse big enough to accommodate a passenger jet.

I bet he does too. He certainly knows a good racket when he sees one.

Allison H/t goes to Backstreet Blogger.