In Jerusalem the Israeli military calculated the number of
calories the citizens of Gaza needed to consume in order to avoid malnutrition during
the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory from 2007- 2010. The Defense
Ministry released this document under a court order on Wednesday. The military
insisted that they have never used these guidelines to restrict the flow of
food but calculations have shown that limits have been imposed on food imports.
There has been further evidence to conclude that Israel has used food as a
weapon. A military spokesperson said that the calculation was made to be used
as a safeguard to avoid humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The document was made
public after and Israeli rights group battled to make it public. Israel
calculated that the daily requirement was 2,279 calories per person. This is in
line with the World Health Organization guidelines. The Goal of this policy was
to wage an economic warfare so Gaza’s economy would freeze and create pressure
on the Hamas government. The result after this document was released was that
military officials enforced the blockade to allow frozen salmon and low-fat
yogurt to be sent through. Underground tunnels have been built so go around the
blockade. Food has been smuggled from Egypt to Gaza.
This
article is significant because it shows that the Israeli military used food as
a weapon. Despite the calorie count that says will stop the people of Gaza from
becoming malnourished the military limited imports through the blockade.
Because of the limitation of food imports people were unable to receive the
food that they needed to have the correct nutrients to help them survive. Food shouldn't be used as a weapon given that it is a necessity to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment