North Sinai -- Builders currently working on the steel barrier being built along Egypt's 14-kilometer border with the Gaza Strip say they have been forced to temporarily halt construction of the barrier in certain areas due to the geological nature of the land. They say they have been unable to place subterranean steel sheets--ostensibly meant to halt cross-border smuggling operations--deeper than four meters underground in some areas due to heavy deposits of solid rock. Construction of the barrier was temporarily halted last month after certain areas of the northern Sinai Peninsula were inundated by torrential rain. Smuggling activity through underground tunnels was recently reported to have declined in the divided city of Rafah, which straddles the Egypt-Gaza border. Eyewitnesses, however, say they continue to see smugglers successfully bypassing the barrier via deeper tunnels. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
