. . . From there, working parties of six men start digging their way towards the Egypt at a depth of 15 to 30 meters. A contact on the Egyptian side signals where the exit can be dug. It takes around six months to dig a tunnel. "It costs me $100,000 to get a ready-to-use tunnel, including bribes," says Abu Hisham. But he quickly recoups the outlay. He estimates that he currently earns $25,000 a month.

The history of Abu Hisham's family is synonymous with the history of smuggling in the Gaza Strip. His grandfather set up the business in the 1980s, during the first Intifada, when he built the first tunnel and brought weapons into Gaza. A smuggled Kalashnikov would fetch up to $4,000. "That w...

. . . From there, working parties of six men start digging their way towards the Egypt at a depth of 15 to 30 meters. A contact on the Egyptian side signals where the exit can be dug. It takes around six months to dig a tunnel. "It costs me $100,000 to get a ready-to-use tunnel, including bribes," says Abu Hisham. But he quickly recoups the outlay. He estimates that he currently earns $25,000 a month.

The history of Abu Hisham's family is synonymous with the history of smuggling in the Gaza Strip. His grandfather set up the business in the 1980s, during the first Intifada, when he built the first tunnel and brought weapons into Gaza. A smuggled Kalashnikov would fetch up to $4,000. "That was a golden age," says his grandson.

Deadly Work for Laborers

"The tunnel owners are the only winners," the 21-year-old says bitterly. He is the foreman of a working party and has been digging for the past eight months. During that time two of his friends died underground. One was electrocuted, the other was killed when the Egyptians released poison gas into his tunnel. Mohammed was there when the gas canisters burst. "We heard the explosion and crawled back as fast as we could. Imad was behind us, the gas got him."

Accidents, the treacherous sand, the sporadic Egyptian efforts to stop the smuggling. These days it's no longer Israeli attacks that pose a daily threat to the tunnelers. For the last few months Israel has been virtually ignoring the smuggling activity. It's no secret that Israel wants to transfer responsibility for the Gaza Strip to the Egyptians. The tunnel trade paves the way for this process and is being tolerated as a result.

"My work is death, I won't survive," says Mohammed grimly.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,587114,00.html