Underground cattle trade thrives in Gaza tunnels (IHT)

Reuters
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
When the calves were hauled out of the tunnel from Egypt Tuesday, they could hardly stand up.
After a terrifying, 1000 metre (yard) underground trip into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, what the young cattle wanted most was a long drink of cool water.
Underground livestock smuggling has increased dramatically ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the day of sacrifice due December 10, when Muslims the world over slaughter animals and feed the poor to seek God's forgiveness.
"Even if we brought in animals every day we would not meet the demand for the Eid," said a tunnel operator who identified himself as Abu Luqaib.
Hundreds of Gaza merchants throng around the border area of Rafah every day to pick up merchandise coming to Gaza from Egypt via subterranean passages that have created a flourishing trade zone.
"It's an industrial zone here," said the 23-year-old tunnel operator as his crew pulled a bawling calf up the deep shaft by a simple rope around its middle. No livestock harness was used.
Gaza has suffered galloping unemployment since Israel tightened its blockade on the territory in 2007 to try to weaken its Palestinian rulers, Hamas, an Islamist group sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.
Goods are scarce in Gaza markets because of Israeli restrictions on what Gaza may and may not import. The tunnel network handles all sorts of readily portable merchandise including fuel, automobile parts, computers and clothes.
TRANQUIL RIDE
The number of tunnels has mushroomed in the past year to around 800, according to Abu Luqaib. They employ between 20,000 to 25,000 workers in a grey economy struggling for survival.
A standard 500 metre tunnel costs $60,000 (35,344 pounds) to $90,000 to build, he says. A 1,000 tunnel built with extra safety features can cost up to $150,000.
The tunnels can be dangerous. Palestinian officials say at least 45 Gazans have died in cave-ins this year, some of which were blamed by Hamas on the security forces in Egypt, who are under pressure from Israel and the United States to clamp down.
But such risks are clearly outweighed by potential profits.
The calves that came through Tuesday cost $350 each plus $250 for the transport, a total of $600 per head.
Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, endorses the tunnels as a way of defying the blockade, and, according to some Gaza residents, imposes taxes on the tunnel trade.
It also keeps a close eye on what comes through.
"No one can smuggle arms or drugs, on the orders of Hamas," said Abu Luqaib. Israel, however, says Hamas runs its own tunnel network to bring arms, explosives and ammunition.
The tunnels also ferry people who cannot otherwise leave or enter Gaza unless they have Israeli or Egyptian permission.
One Gaza woman, Umm Khaled, had been stuck in Egypt for several weeks while her husband fretted over telling her the unwelcome news that her only way home was via a dark tunnel.
So friends slipped a sleeping draught into her glass of juice, wrapped her in a blanket and laid her in an underground trolley to be whisked through to the beleaguered Gaza Strip.
"She got the fastest, most tranquil, and safest trip home in the end," said tunnel operator Ahmed, who gave no second name.
(Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton; editing by Sami Aboudi)
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/21/africa/OUKWD-UK-PALESTINIANS-CATTLE.php





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Bush Babe (Central Queensland; reasonable sized cattle operation)

I've been lucky enough to get an email from Bush Babe, which has to be one of my favourite blogs, not least of all because my wife is Australian and we try and keep a bit of the Aussie in our kids from here in rural France.

Bush Babe

Bush Babe is a "crazily busy woman at the moment as we are preparing stud bulls for a number of sales so I am organising Genestar testing, EBVs, scanning and feeding regimes (as well as my normal roles)!!!"

Black Brangus bull

Let's start with her 'property' (Aussie speak for farm) which is "a reasonable sized cattle operation here in central Queensland".

By 'reasonable sized' you can take that to mean 'quite a few thousand acres' of Granite and scrub country.

The property runs "beef cattle - mostly Brangus and Brangus-cross cattle. We have a Brangus stud as well as a commercial herd. We muster by horseback only (no motorbikes or helicopters)."






Bush Babe blogs "not just about things cattle, but also about being a mum, returning to the land after living in the city for a couple of decades, about being a wife and a daughter and a photographer."

"While we face many challenges here (drought, prices, distance, costs) and I do touch on them occasionally," wrote Bush Babe, "I tend to focus on the people part and the joy I find in living here again (after being a city chick for a couple of decades). My passion is finding the connections with people from all different walks of life... and hopefully tapping into a little empathy for rural life as a whole."

So, like many of the bloggers on Farm Blogs from Around the World, she is not purely a farm blog.

"Do I still count??" asked Bush Babe.

The answer to that is yes, very much so.

I look forward to hearing Bush Babe's recommendations for some good Aussie farm blogs, 'pure' or not, when things are a little less crazy.

PHOTOS BY KIND PERMISSON OF BUSH BABE 2008;

COPYRIGHT BUSH BABE 2008

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Wrensong Farm (WA, U.S.A)

Wrensong Farm is on 5 acres in rural Washington State in the town of Monroe, nestled up in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

It was recommended to me by Joan at Mud Ranch's Real Dirt and thanks to Tammy at Wrensong Farm to writing to me and allowing me to feature some photos of her farm.

"My blog is about my animal "addiction"," writes Tammy. "I have sheep (Jacobs and Shetlands), a donkey, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 emu, 28 chickens 16 guineas, a pair of Blue India peacocks, 3 turkey poults that are a mix of Auburn, Wild and Narragansett, and 6 Call Ducks (3 Black East Indies, 3 Snowys) on my pond."

"It also about the fun and trials of raising said livestock."

Tammy has "been animal obsessed since I could crawl (to the dismay of my mother's dogs)".

After moving to their current location in the Spring of 1998 her "2 and 4 legged animal family has grown. To pay for the feed and care of this family I have worked as a 777 aircraft inspector for the Boeing Co for almost 27 years."

Wrensong Farm is a relatively new blog, but that is part of its charm - new to blogging, a relatively young smallholding, beautiful country.

P.S!:

• I am afraid that I have lost many of your recent emails, specifically any sent to me between 15th August 2008 and 26th August 2008. Obviously I am annoyed at my stupidity, but also offer my apologies for all those people who took the time to write to me at what is, for most people, a busy time of year.
• If you did write to me between the above dates, I can only apologise, and ask you to re-send your email to me.
  
  
  
  
  

http://www.aplaceintheauvergne.blogspot.com/
http://www.ianwalthew.com/


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ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY KIND PERMISSION OF WRENSONG FARM.

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