Article

2004-12-17 Israel-Palestine

Gaza Smuggling Tunnel Collapses, Trapping 5

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Posted by PlanetDan 2004-12-17 10:03:28 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The Pali's should've had Becthel build them like up here in Boston. They'd leak, but not collapse. Bit pricey though. Maybe they could cut back on Suha's pig payments to cover it?

Posted by tu3031 2004-12-17 10:22:36 AM|| 2004-12-17 10:22:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 about time for that seawater diversion canal.....

Posted by Frank G 2004-12-17 10:34:53 AM|| 2004-12-17 10:34:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Israel should periodically bring in piling drivers and randomly pound the heck out of the area. Cheaper than a canal.

Posted by Tom 2004-12-17 10:39:58 AM|| 2004-12-17 10:39:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Not pile drivers, but drilling rigs. Set up a pipeline to deliver sea water, then drill small probe holes and fire up the pumps when a shaft is discovered. Pump in enough water at sufficient pressure, and the tunnel outlets on either side can be found easily.

On Sunday, militants killed five soldiers by detonating 1,500 kg (3,310 pounds) of explosives in a tunnel burrowed under an army post in the corridor, a stretch of desert dunes. It was one of the most sophisticated attacks ever by Palestinian militants against an Israeli military post near the volatile Rafah crossing to Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sophisticated, yes, but not worth the effort expended, and not likely to be repeated.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-12-17 11:13:15 AM|| 2004-12-17 11:13:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 As the tunnel collapsed around them, their ferverent prayers for the intercession of St. Rachel Corrie, patron of weapons-smuggling tunnels, went unanswered.

Posted by Mike 2004-12-17 11:44:42 AM|| 2004-12-17 11:44:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Sympathy meter ?

Posted by Crikey 2004-12-17 12:42:44 PM|| 2004-12-17 12:42:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I guess you could use seawater, but to me the problem seems analagous to the gopher problem I used to have in my back yard. I say "used to have" because a couple of canisters of aluminum phosphide took care of the situation for good. And I don't see why that wouldn't work here, too.

Posted by Captain Pedantic 2004-12-17 12:46:45 PM|| 2004-12-17 12:46:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Hey Cap'n P., are you by any chance related to Bill Murray?

Posted by Parabellum 2004-12-17 3:30:15 PM|| [http://www.angelfire.com/moon/yoelnatan/koranwarpassages.htm] 2004-12-17 3:30:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Drill a hole,then truck in all the feces from Israels shithouses and dump it on the Paleostonians.Wait,that would actually improvethe smell in the tunnel.

Posted by Me 2004-12-17 4:56:50 PM|| 2004-12-17 4:56:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 I'd recommend vibratory pile driving. It nicely fluidizes loose soils.

Posted by phil_b 2004-12-17 5:04:50 PM|| 2004-12-17 5:04:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 phil b - I've worked with those, unfortunately the soils have to be saturated for the vibration to build up loss of cohesion and subsequent liquifaction, otherwise you're just looking for collapsing of shoddy tunnels via vibration, hence my canal comment [/Engineering geo-geek talk]

whatever works, I say....Underground tests of the Zionist nukes would do a better job, and scare the bejebus out of any thinking paleo/arab (however small that population may be)

Posted by Frank G 2004-12-17 5:14:30 PM|| 2004-12-17 5:14:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Sorry I'm late with this:

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2004-12-17 7:48:21 PM|| 2004-12-17 7:48:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 I say, deal with 'em like you deal with gophers. Shovel in some calcium carbide in the entrances. Add water to taste. Delay action fuse to light it off. Cover entrance of tunnel. End of Paleo gopher problem.***Boomph***

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-12-17 9:10:20 PM|| 2004-12-17 9:10:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 A couple of problems with these various proposals, as seen from my semi-nontechnical perspective.

1. If you flood the tunnels with sea water, won't that salinize the soil, much like the Romans salting the fields of their conquered enemies, so that nothing would grow there? There isn't so much fertile growing area in that part of the world that you'd want to screw up what's there.

2. The Israelis have modern plumbing, so no outhouse extracts available for dumping in tunnels.

3. Using canisters of aluminum phosphide or calcium carbide plus water requires knowledge of the location of the tunnels. The problem is that the Israelis don't.

4. Frank, I suspect you are right about the fluidizing soil problem. The only region where the soil has ever been saturated is in the Galilee, which was swamp for about 1000 years -- post-Rome and pre-Jewish swamp-draining settlers in the early part of the 20th century.

I guess that leaves Tom's suggestion of randomly pounding the ground in the hope of collapsing the tunnels underneath. Or maybe using the machine archeologists use to see where the best buried cities are.

Sorry, guys. I'd be happy if you would tell me where I went wrong in my quick analysis of the solutions offered. I admit I'm just a semi-nontechnical but enthusiastic amateur, and would be happy to be shown the error of my ways by someone who actually knows what he's talking about. ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2004-12-17 9:27:05 PM|| 2004-12-17 9:27:05 PM|| Front Page Top

00:06 Bomb-a-rama
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