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Tel Aviv:
Even as an Israeli court forced the release of government research
detailing the number of calories Palestinians in Gaza need to
consume to avoid malnutrition, Human rights groups say the
research shows Israel's blockade amounted to collective
punishment.
The study was
commissioned after Israel tightened its blockade of the territory
after Hamas came to power in June 2007.
The Israeli government however says
the study was only a draft and was never used to determine policy.
The Israeli human rights group Gisha, which campaigns
against Israel's Gaza blockade, fought a long legal battle to get
the Israeli ministry of defense to release this document.
Dated
from 2008 and entitled, Food consumption in the Gaza Strip –The
Red Lines, it is a detailed study of how many calories
Palestinians needed to eat to avoid malnutrition.
“How can Israel
claim that it is not responsible for civilian life in Gaza - when
it controls even the type and quantity of food that Palestinian
residents of Gaza are permitted to consume?” the report asks.
It breaks foods down into various categories including meat,
dairy, vegetables and fruit.
Gisha says it explains the unusual
restrictions which allowed some products such as cinnamon in,
while others such as coriander were forbidden.
The "red lines"
documents concluded that Israel needed to allow 106 truckloads of
supplies into Gaza every day to allow for the "daily humanitarian
portion", which included basic food, medicine, medical equipment,
hygiene products and agricultural inputs.
But Gisha says that
during that time an average of only 67 truckloads were allowed
into Gaza.
This, the group says, compared to around 400 truckloads
which entered Gaza each day before the blockade was tightened in
June 2007.
Israel's blockade of Gaza was eased three years later
to allow in more goods following international pressure. Before
2010, millions of dollars worth of food products were being
smuggled into Gaza through tunnels every year.
Gisha says the research contradicts Israel's assertions that the
blockade was needed for security reasons.
"How can Israel claim
that it is not responsible for civilian life in Gaza - when it
controls even the type and quantity of food that Palestinian
residents of Gaza are permitted to consume?" asked Sari Bashi,
Gisha's executive director in a statement.
"Israel's control over
movement creates an obligation to allow free passage of civilians
and civilian goods, subject only to security checks - an
obligation that remains unfulfilled today."
Israeli government
officials now acknowledge the food restrictions were partly
intended to put pressure on Hamas by making the lives of people in
Gaza difficult.
In 2006, the longtime Israeli government adviser
Dov Weisglass was widely quoted as having said: "The idea is to
put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of
hunger."
The United Nations and human rights groups say Israel's blockade
has amounted to collective punishment.
An Israeli government
official said the "red lines" documents was only ever a draft but
was aimed at ensuring there was not a major health crisis in Gaza.
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