Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has again failed to halt the huge Palestinian
smuggling tunnel network.

Security sources said Egypt has determined that Palestinian smuggling
continues despite the closure of some 150 tunnels. They said the Hamas
regime in the Gaza Strip was deploying some 50 tunnels to transfer arms,
fuel and construction material.

“There have been efforts, but they have not ended smuggling,” a source said.

[On late Aug. 15, several explosions, purported to be those of rocket
landings from Sinai, were heard around the southern Israeli city of Eilat. On the following day, an unknown group, the Salafist Front in Sinai, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire as well as a recent bombing of the Arab Gas Pipeline in Sinai.]

The sources said fuel shipments meant for the Sinai Peninsula were being diverted to the Gaza Strip, where they commanded higher prices. They acknowledged fuel shortages in such Sinai cities as El Arish and Rafah.

The Egyptian tunnel demolition began in wake of the Aug. 5 attack on
army positions along the border with Israel, in which 16 soldiers were killed.

Since then, the Egyptian Army has supervised bulldozers and tractors
supplied by the state-owned Arab Contractors Co. to destroy tunnels that
link the two sides of the divided city of Rafah.

So far, most of the Egyptian operations in Sinai failed to find
insurgents. The sources said helicopters attacked long-abandoned insurgency
positions or fired missiles toward empty areas.

Hamas has urged Egypt to halt the tunnel demolition. Hamas political
leader Mahmoud Zahar said Egypt appeared intent to prevent the reopening or
reconstruction of the tunnels.

“We suffered from the unjust regime of Mubarak that participated in the
[Israeli] blockade of the Gaza Strip,” Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad
said on Aug. 13. “Why should we suffer now in the era of Egypt’s revolution
and democracy?”

Hamad urged Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to remove restrictions on
the flow of people and goods to the Gaza Strip. The Hamas minister called
for the reopening of the Rafah border terminal, the only official crossing
between Gaza and Sinai.

The Egyptian sources said they expected the tunnel demolition to end
over the next few days. They said neither the Egyptian military or
government wanted a confrontation with Hamas, rather assurances that Sinai
would not be used for attacks by Gaza-based fighters.

On Aug. 16, the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat daily reported an agreement
between Hamas and Egypt on border security cooperation. The newspaper, in a
report from Gaza City, said Egypt has failed to substantiate charges that
Palestinians were involved in the Aug. 5 attack in Sinai.

“There is no intention for a sustained operation that would
strategically hurt the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the source said.
“Egypt has made its point and expects Hamas to behave accordingly.”

  50 tunnels remain, Arab Contractors Co., Egypt closes 150 tunnels but Gaza smugglers still using 50, El Arish, Mahmoud Zahar, Mohammed Morsi, Rafah, Salafist Front in Sinai