Image by Cau Napoli via FlickrDocuments reveal a policy of economic strangulation and show that Israel was guided more by considerations of image and public perception, than security and the rights and needs of Palestinian residents of Gaza as they publicly claimed.The Israeli government has been forced to release documents outlining its policies for determining restrictions on basic goods into the Gaza Strip. The documents outline a formula for what’s described as "breathing space" — the number of days before a given supply completely runs out in Gaza. It also speaks of a "deliberate reduction" of a number of goods and includes the "sensitivities of the international community" as a factor in whether the flow of goods should be increased. The Israeli human rights group Gisha won the disclosure after the Israeli government long denied the documents’ existence.
Israel finally confirms the obvious – The collective punishment of the Gaza siege is based on politics, not security
