Barak suggests tunnel connecting between Gaza, West Bank

[bemildred]

Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak said during a meeting with students at Ben-Gurion University that "we can reach a territorial continuity between Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, by digging a 48-kilometer (157.5-feet) tunnel under Israeli sovereignty with Palestinian control of the traffic."

Barak said that the tunnel, which may be dug between Beit Hanoun and a village near Hebron would cost between $2-3 billion, "a reasonable sum." (Ilana Curiel)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3665654,00.html

[Richard D]

1. Paid for with whose tax-dollars?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. The nation that needs it

Israel has no requirement to provide a land bridge between them. To offer them tunnel options is generous.

[azurnoir]

2. I'm speechless my first instinct was to laugh

he can't be serious besides on the opening day some bureaucrat would find a problem with the building permit and well.........

[bemildred]

3. Yeah. me too. A sound attitude IMHO. nt

[Mosby]

4. It's doable

A tunnel connecting Gaza and the WB is not impossible, the UK to France tunnel is over 31 miles long.

[Igel]

5. My first reaction is to laugh.

Assuming, of course, that he was being sarcastic. Surely he can't be serious with such a proposal?

My second reaction, completely opposed to the first, is to laugh. Assuming, of course, that he actually isn't being sarcastic. Because then I surely can't take him seriously with such a proposal.

It's possible, of course: Build a huge trench, lay road in it, and then cover it over. Not quite plausible.

[eyl]

10. I believe the Chunnel was consideably more difficult to build

yet it was done successfully

[EFerrari]

6. I guess it's easy to joke if you're welfare doesn't depend on a tunnel. n/t

[ProgressiveMuslim]

7. Does yours?

[EFerrari]

8. No and that's what I meant. It's easy for this man to make jokes

about tunnels. His most basic supplies don't depend on them.

[GoesTo11]

9. There are laws of geometry at play here

Israel isn't going to agree to borders that leave it bisected north to south. But Gaza couldn't be left cut off from the West Bank. How can both happen?

It's a reasonable idea. Maybe not a good idea, but there will need to be some arrangements.

[Vegasaurus]

11. There are no ideal solutions

There will have to be compromises.

Depends on how badly peace is sought or how much people want it.

Right now, I'd say the answer from the leaderships is "not much", so this idea won't go anywhere.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. No matter how badly peace is sought, I think a 50km tunnel is a silly idea.

It's like proposing that, since Israel and the Palestinians want the same land, they build two-story houses with the one lot on one floor and the other lot on the other, and link the top stories with walkways.

It's *theoretically* possible - the Channel Tunnel between England and France exists - but it's not a sensible idea.