TEL AVIV — Despite Israeli appeals, Egypt has failed to halt the
weapons tunnel infrastructure in the eastern Sinai Peninsula.
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Israeli officials said Egyptian security forces have bolstered troops
along the border with Israel to prevent weapons smuggling, Middle East Newsline reported. But they said the
Egyptians have not acted against the estimated 200 weapons tunnels that link
the divided town of Rafah.
"They aren't focusing their activity effectively," Israel Security
Agency director Yuval Diskin said.
Officials said Egypt failed to arrest leading weapons and other
smugglers in the eastern Sinai. They said the Interior Ministry has
occasionally blocked shipments of weapons moving from El Arish toward Rafah
while enabling most of the flow to continue to the Gaza Strip.
"They need to crack down on the smuggling barons instead of just dealing
with the smuggling right along the border," Diskin said.
At a briefing on Feb. 5, Diskin said explosives smuggling from Egypt
increase five-fold in 2006. He said 30 tons of high-grade explosives and
1,726 rockets were smuggled from Sinai into Gaza in 2006. In 2005, 401
rockets were sent into the Gaza Strip.
In 2006, 14,000 assault rifles reached the Gaza Strip in comparison to
9,300 during the previous year. Last year, 150 rocket-propelled grenades, 65
launchers and 10 upgraded anti-tank missiles.
"If Egypt starts to thwart the transfer of weapons then that will slow
down the terror buildup in Gaza and stave off a military operation there,"
Diskin said. "They [the Egyptians] have a key in their hands and they know
it."
In 2005, Israel approved the deployment of 750 Egyptian border officers,
who arrived along the border with the Gaza Strip in October. Egypt has
sought to increase its security presence by at least another 5,000, which
require a revision of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
"In the beginning, the reason they didn't thwart the smuggling was
because they didn't understand," Diskin said. "Today they understand the
importance and if they want to be a mediator between Israel and the
Palestinians then they need to start better focusing their efforts."
Diskin said Hamas controls most of the weapons smuggling industry is in
the Gaza Strip. He said Hamas was constructing 10 tunnels from the Gaza
Strip
into Israel for future attacks, including the abduction of Israeli soldiers.
"Terror organizations are digging tunnels from Gaza towards Israel with
the intention of carrying out attacks against Israel Defense Forces units in
the communities adjacent to the border," Diskin said. "At the moment there
are at least 10 tunnels being dug, in varying stages of progress."
Officials said the tunnels were part of a military infrastructure
required for another war with Israel. They said the Hamas military wing,
Izzedin Al Kassam, has joined the Murabitoun militia to form a conventional
military based on anti-tank and anti-aircraft capabilities. They said Hamas
sought to increase the payload of its rockets from the current seven
kilograms to more than 30 kilograms.
