U.S. Army training Egyptians to find and destroy smuggling tunnels
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 08:03 11/06/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/991542.html

The United States Army has begun training Egyptian soldiers to locate and
destroy tunnels, in an effort to improve the Egyptian army's ability to cope
with arms-smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip.

A second, larger group of Egyptian soldiers is also due to arrive shortly
for training, which is taking place at a U.S. Army base in Texas.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is teaching the Egyptian troops how to use
advanced technological equipment to find and destroy the tunnels, including
instruments that measure ground fluctuations and signal that a tunnel is
being dug.

There has already been some improvement in Egypt's anti-smuggling activity,
said Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, who heads the Military Intelligence
research division.

"The Egyptians have intensified their efforts along the border, but their
activity is still a drop in the sea, and the smuggling is continuing,"
Baidatz told the cabinet.

Arms-smuggling is a key issue in Israel-Egypt talks on a cease-fire in the
Gaza Strip. Israel demands that Hamas commit to stop smuggling weapons as a
condition for a lull, but Hamas refuses to do so. As an alternative, Egypt
said it would guarantee a halt in smuggling and intensify its efforts to
thwart such activity. Israel, however, is
concerned the issue will damage its relations with Egypt.

Over the past year, the U.S. has put much pressure on Egypt to improve how
it deals with the arms-smuggling into Gaza, an Israeli diplomatic source
said. Members of the House of Representatives proposed freezing $200 million
in military financial aid to Egypt until it acted to stop the smuggling.
Egypt was angered by the initiative, which was eventually nixed by U.S.
President George W. Bush.

All the same, the developments in Congress did help change the Egyptian
attitude toward the arms-smuggling, which the Egyptians had long denied.
Some six months ago, Egyptian officials began admitting to American
officials that the smuggling was taking place and demonstrated the results
of their efforts to stop the smuggling.

The Bush administration also sent a Pentagon delegation to the Egypt-Gaza
border, and they submitted a report recommending that the U.S. help the
Egyptians halt the smuggling and ask Israel to agree to an increased
Egyptian border force in Sinai.

In January, U.S. Congressman Steve Israel, a Democrat from New York,
announced after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that the
U.S. would allocate $23 million of its military aid to Egypt for
tunnel-locating equipment.