RAFAH, GAZA STRIP — The tunnel owners sit around the fire, passing cups of sweet tea and talking bitterly about the siege.
But on this early February morning they're not talking about the Israeli jets and their occasional airstrikes on the hundreds of tunnels that worm their way from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, slipping in supplies and, some say, weapons.
Instead, the Palestinians' fury is directed at the Egyptian government, which in the wake of this winter's Israeli offensive has cracked down on the Gaza tunnel trade, choking the flow of goods.
"No matter what the Israelis do, we're steadfast," one owner, who identifies himself as Abu Ahmed, says as he sits in an outdoor courtyard within sight of the border. "But this? This could slaughter our country and our economy."
Under pressure from the United States and Israel, Egypt is imposing stronger checkpoints throughout the Sinai peninsula to prevent merchandise from reaching the tunnel zone. Here on the border in Rafah, there's talk of police using informants to find hidden entrances and destroy dozens of tunnels with explosives or huge water hoses.
"They seem to be taking it seriously this time," says Musab Shurrab, a police officer stationed within yards of the border wall.
An army of tunnel diggers went back to work immediately after Israel ended its three-week offensive in Gaza on Jan. 18. They vowed to repair damaged routes and continue subverting Israeli and Egyptian control over the Palestinian territory's borders.
Tunnel traffic resumed for about a week, with a new wave of goods appearing in Gaza's depleted markets.
Then, the owners say, something changed.
Having fended off calls for an international troop presence on the border, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak apparently set out to prove that Egypt was capable of controlling its own borders.
In the last week of January, extra security forces began appearing on the Egyptian side of the wall, along with shiny new security cameras pointed across the border. Now the heads of several Egyptian soldiers are visible on the roof of a deserted three-story apartment building just across the border. The low rooftop wall has been raised and fortified with layers of cinder block.
"It's the first time they've acted like this," Shurrab says.
But even more disturbing, he says, is when the soldiers suddenly disappear. Everybody panics, fearing that the Egyptians have been warned about an impending Israeli airstrike.
