Israel told US of intention to starve Gazans - Arab News
JERUSALEM: Israel told US officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse" while avoiding a humanitarian crisis, according to US diplomatic cables published by a Norwegian daily on Wednesday.
Three cables cited by the Aftenposten newspaper, which has said it has all 250,000 US cables leaked to WikiLeaks, showed that Israel kept the US Embassy in Tel Aviv briefed on its internationally criticized blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The territory, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, is run by Hamas, which is shunned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
"As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed (to US Embassy economic officers) on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge," one of the cables read.
Israel wanted the coastal territory's economy "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis", according to the Nov. 3, 2008 cable.
In a speech in January 2008, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to spell out that policy, which has since been eased in the wake of an international outcry over a deadly Israeli raid last May on a Turkish aid ship trying to break the blockade.
"We will not harm the supply of food for children, medicine for those who need it and fuel for institutions that save lives," Olmert said at the time. "But there is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards (at southern Israel)," he added.
The Jewish state says it has significantly relaxed the blockade since May, with dozens of truckloads of goods entering the territory daily.
However, Israel continues to restrict what it says are "dual-use" goods which can be used for both military and civilian means, and only allows in limited amounts building materials for projects run by international organizations.
Aid organizations have said shipments should be increased further.
Palestinians say impoverished Gaza remains effectively a "prison" sealed off by Israel, and have called for an opening to allow normal trade and other links with the world. The unemployment rate in Gaza stood at 35 percent last year, one of the highest in the world.
Aftenposten said last month it had obtained all the diplomatic documents leaked to WikiLeaks and that it would publish stories based on them independently of the whistle-blowing website's own releases.
WikiLeaks has so far only made public around 2,000 of the some 250,000 cables in its possession, in cooperation with publications El Pais, The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde and Der Spiegel.
Meanwhile, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark is in the Gaza Strip on a solidarity mission.
Clark met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday to kick off a three-day visit. He will also meet with human rights activists and visit relatives of people killed during Israel's military offensive into Gaza two years ago.
Clark did not comment to reporters, but Haniyeh's office said they discussed Israel's blockade of Gaza and recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
The visit places Clark at odds with American foreign policy, which shuns Hamas as a terrorist group. A longtime critic of US military policy in the Middle East, Clark was attorney general in the mid-1960s.
JERUSALEM: Israel told US officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse" while avoiding a humanitarian crisis, according to US diplomatic cables published by a Norwegian daily on Wednesday.
Three cables cited by the Aftenposten newspaper, which has said it has all 250,000 US cables leaked to WikiLeaks, showed that Israel kept the US Embassy in Tel Aviv briefed on its internationally criticized blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The territory, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, is run by Hamas, which is shunned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
"As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed (to US Embassy economic officers) on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge," one of the cables read.
Israel wanted the coastal territory's economy "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis", according to the Nov. 3, 2008 cable.
In a speech in January 2008, then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to spell out that policy, which has since been eased in the wake of an international outcry over a deadly Israeli raid last May on a Turkish aid ship trying to break the blockade.
"We will not harm the supply of food for children, medicine for those who need it and fuel for institutions that save lives," Olmert said at the time. "But there is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards (at southern Israel)," he added.
The Jewish state says it has significantly relaxed the blockade since May, with dozens of truckloads of goods entering the territory daily.
However, Israel continues to restrict what it says are "dual-use" goods which can be used for both military and civilian means, and only allows in limited amounts building materials for projects run by international organizations.
Aid organizations have said shipments should be increased further.
Palestinians say impoverished Gaza remains effectively a "prison" sealed off by Israel, and have called for an opening to allow normal trade and other links with the world. The unemployment rate in Gaza stood at 35 percent last year, one of the highest in the world.
Aftenposten said last month it had obtained all the diplomatic documents leaked to WikiLeaks and that it would publish stories based on them independently of the whistle-blowing website's own releases.
WikiLeaks has so far only made public around 2,000 of the some 250,000 cables in its possession, in cooperation with publications El Pais, The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde and Der Spiegel.
Meanwhile, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark is in the Gaza Strip on a solidarity mission.
Clark met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday to kick off a three-day visit. He will also meet with human rights activists and visit relatives of people killed during Israel's military offensive into Gaza two years ago.
Clark did not comment to reporters, but Haniyeh's office said they discussed Israel's blockade of Gaza and recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
The visit places Clark at odds with American foreign policy, which shuns Hamas as a terrorist group. A longtime critic of US military policy in the Middle East, Clark was attorney general in the mid-1960s.
