Israeli blockade of Gaza: "economic warfare" v. a security measure?

Israeli document: Gaza blockade isn't about security

As Israel ordered a slight easing of its blockade of the Gaza Strip Wednesday, McClatchy obtained an Israeli government document that describes the blockade not as a security measure but as "economic warfare" against the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Palestinian territory....

[I]n response to a lawsuit by Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, the Israeli government explained the blockade as an exercise of the right of economic warfare.

"A country has the right to decide that it chooses not to engage in economic relations or to give economic assistance to the other party to the conflict, or that it wishes to operate using 'economic warfare,'" the government said.

McClatchy obtained the government's written statement from Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, which sued the government for information about the blockade. The Israeli high court upheld the suit, and the government delivered its statement earlier this year.

Q: Critics have accused FG of deliberately provoking a confrontation with the Israelis and argued that the attempt to break the siege was political and not just a humanitarian relief operation.

A: They are correct to say that FG’s aim was more than just bringing humanitarian relief. We are deeply disturbed by Israel’s deliberate and calculated creation of a humanitarian crisis in the coastal territory and we intended to draw international attention to this.

We are not interested in simply perpetuating the siege and the humanitarian crisis by bringing in aid alone. Gazans are not interested in being aid-dependent either. Eighty percent of Gaza’s population is dependent on food aid. This is not the result of a natural disaster but a deliberate and cruel Israeli policy. We are concerned that the human rights of Gazans be respected and they are allowed to live a normal life as human beings.

The Israeli government made an announcement today that they had agreed to a “significant” easing of the Gaza blockade, allowing items like food and toys into the region in larger amounts and even allowing some construction materials in. The announcement was met, predictably, with US State Department praise.

But is the announcement real, or was it done purely for PR purposes? While Israel released its announcement, in English, following the meeting, they also released a Hebrew version for local media consumption at the same time, and the two versions are starkly different.

While the English-only version, the version sent to all foreign diplomats, claims that the decision “was made,” the Hebrew version that the Israeli press got insisted that the meeting just included ministers voicing their opinions on a possible easing and that no vote ever took place on any particular draft.