Trip from Gaza to Eilat then back, thru tunnels
Reageer (0)Written by Omar-Gaza
8-7-2010Gaza-- Under the hardship of living that camps in the little space of his modest bungalow, and hindered from providing a somewhat decent living to his seven dependent little kids, M.K. -who oversaw the age of mid thirties- decided to take off on the adventure of his life through an arduous journey in the desert of northern Sinai, hoping to cross the Egyptian-Israeli border and reach the city of “Eilat”, which is the main destination of his dangerous unguaranteed trip.
Five months ago, M.K. made his final decision to start this journey hoping to find a better job that will salvage his children from the anguish of poverty and bitter life conditions and earn a reasonable amount of money that will be sufficient for a period of time and perhaps guarantee a decent life for a while or maybe start a small project that will help him continue through a normal life, indifferent to what this journey hold like horror, imprisonment, or a fatal bullet aimed by the Egyptian border guards directly at him or his head, or the Israeli forces that regularly comb the border to prevent the smuggling of strangers (foreigners) to the occupied city of “Um Al Rishrash”.
M.K., who lives with his huge family that completely depend on him as the breadwinner, he started these ideas of accessing the city of “Eilat”, by going through the southern tunnels and then contacting a Bedouin friend who lives in north of Sinai to be his tour guide for 500 dollars in return of his services, pointing out that this method is much better and safer than passing the eastern wired border with the Gaza strip which is connected to sensors and tracking devices that can easily detect him which will lead to his death or imprisonment.
Pumping up his courage with determination and persistence, he started his journey by going to the city of Rafah in the southern region of Gaza, he was scheduled to meet and negotiate with the owners of the tunnels to agree on the deal of smuggling him, not in his wildest dreams he thought he will fall as a victim to their greed.
Some of the tunnels’ owners asked him to pay up to 2000 dollars to smuggle him to the Egyptian territories.
Hours and hours passed like a full time while M.K waited for the tunnels’ owners –as they agreed on meeting him in a certain spot to smuggle him and guide him- instead he faced an impediment in the way of his trip, which ended before it started, and waited for a long period standing in the central area of the tunnels to start his way to “Eilat”, but without any luck or success, he fell as an easy prey for tunnels’ traffickers who thought that M.K. is a fugitive running from a crime or is wanted for justice.
Without any previous warning, the power went out from the whole area of the tunnels, and without hesitation or over-thinking M.K. slipped into one of the tunnels, shrouded in darkness, and fell to the ground in nothing but complete darkness and then used the frail light of his cell phone which guided him to the road.
After an hour at least of walking which seemed like a whole year he reached the tunnel’s eye on the Egyptian side, which was closed with a piece of wood covered with a pile of dirt and bushes to mislead the Egyptian security, he found an ax which was discarded in the soles of the tunnel and decided to use it and open the exit to let himself out.
M.K. found himself in the corridor of a house belonging to one of the Bedouin families in the Egyptian city of Rafah. Calmly and carefully, he managed to leave the house and walked in a sandy dusty street surrounded by trees on both sides until he arrived at a populated area, then made a call to his Bedouin friend, who will provide his arrival to the city of “Eilat”, which is located between the city of Aqaba from the east and the Egyptian town of Taba from the west, and began an exciting adventure that lasted for two weeks, spending during this journey two days in the mountains that separate the Egyptian borders from "Israel", and anxiously waited for approximately ten days in a cave in the soles of the Mountains until the activity of the Egyptian border guards became lesser, who combed the area from time to time.
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