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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas Charges $3,000 a Day for Each Smuggling-Tunnel |
| 2007-12-23 |
| Hamas has taken over the estimated 150 smuggling-tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, and charges the owners $3,000 each per day. Five tunnels whose owners didn't agree to pay the fee were blown up. The other digger/owners quickly agreed to pay the requested fee, enabling Hamas to attain a monopoly on the tunnels. They've thrown out Fatah for being corrupt. Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that while the 150 tunnels bring in a total of some $150 million annually, the value of men, weapons and other merchandise smuggled in each year total more than three times that amount - close to a half-billion dollars. The tunnels are run in a systematic manner, with compensation being paid to the family of a tunnel-digger who dies during the work, and with judges who mediate in various disputes that arise. Who says that Arabs are incapable of industry? |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #1 It's not like they have any other industry to "nationalize", right? |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2007-12-23 11:34 |