Israel may build a moat
 

GAZA, Gaza Strip -- An Israeli proposal to dig a moat along the Gaza-Egypt border to stop weapons reaching Palestinian militants through tunnels drew Palestinian outrage and defiance today.

"We tried an underground wall, but they dug deeper. We demolished several rows of houses so they dug longer tunnels. ... We've got to have something that would make tunnels impossible," a senior Israeli military source said.

The costly plan, which would run millions of dollars, is the latest of options being floated by the Israeli military as a way to reduce weapons smuggling into the southern Gaza Strip after 13 soldiers were killed in three deadly ambushes last week.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Ghassan al-Khatib said such a project would lead to more homes being demolished in Rafah refugee camp, where hundreds of people have fled their houses after an Israeli threat to raze hundreds of structures.

Israel says buildings in the camp provide cover for gunmen who routinely attack a heavily fortified Israeli military outpost and patrols in the adjoining Philadelphi corridor that separates Gaza from Egypt.

Khatib urged Washington and the United Nations to block any moat-building, a project he said would only "deepen the occupation and certainly lead to an escalation in the conflict."

A water-filled moat would be in addition to an 26-foot-high iron wall blocking Rafah from the frontier buffer zone and a vast barrier in the West Bank condemned by Palestinians as a new "Berlin Wall" and described by Israel as a means to stop suicide bombers.

Palestinian militants vowed to respond by stepping up attacks against Israel.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...orld/2574790?1

It's an idea but I think they will still find ways to get weapons in.

A moat in the dessert. I love it. What's next? A Wet and Wild on Mount Sinai?

Yeah a Wet n' Wild on Mt. Sinai would be such a lovely addition.

I wonder if they'd do the floats to look like stone tablets?

Maybe they'd part the waters every 15 minutes, just for effect.

They could learn a thing or two from the former German Democratic Republic (the commies) : build an Antifaschistische Schutzmauer (Anti-fascist Protection Wall) - otherwise known as the Berlin Wall. Just line the approaches to the border with a kill zone loaded with mines, detection equipment and guard dogs, along with sadistic border guards who shoot first and ask questions later.

Aw hell... it's been tried once and it didn't really work very well keeping people in. Or out. [/sarcasm]

The weapons smuggling tunnels are underground...those approaches would not work.

-Rudey

Maybe the ISraelis should just step up their military response, i.e. consider depopulating the region. And I am not kidding. This intercine warfare is ripping their country apart. They need to end it.

That'd work if they were an Arab regime. The world really doesn't seem to mind Arab countries depopulating troublesome minority populations.. Unfortunately, since they're not Arab, they probably couldn't get away with that.

The important question here - will there be penguins in this moat?

Only if they can put some SERIOUSLY MASSIVE air conditioning and water cooling units to keep the penguins cool in that climate! :)

Better yet... how bout mines disguised as rubber duckies! [/twisted evil grin]

In the nude?

Just to drop a random fact, Israel isn't desert - well it does have desert in some parts (Negev for example), but it's cultivated very well. In the North it's very green, and even snows, and Jersusalem was a swamp until early Zionist pioneers were able to tame it.

-Rudey
--Done

That's interesting. I think most of us assume mostly desert. A little like most people don't realize that Denver is Semi-Arid and doesn't really get much parcipitation yearly. Most of the snow is in the mountains just to the west.

Geography Class was a very long time ago.

Negev... thats the one that most people over here associate with the barren-waste desert that is seen in the movies.... and it is a hot, blasted place (at least according to my sister's roommate - it's where she was stationed).

Unfortunately, I think the Israeli government has gone to far. In 1848 they were given permission to take some land for their own country, and since then they have invaded more and more of the surrounding area. They never listen to the UN (not that anyone in this country cares if anyone listens to the UN, but I think the UN has a lot of good things to say), and they are invading someone else's land. I think the US should pull our monetary and political support for their hard-line approach against the Palestinians, because they are just as bad as the people they are fighting against.

I spent time in the Negev. It's very calming. I don't know of any desert that isn't a hot, blasted place however.

-Rudey