The Weaponization of Scarcity
CASE A: Fuel as a Measure of Controlled Collapse in Gaza (2024) The New Arab cites a study highlighting that Israel 'is deliberately supplying insufficient quantities of fuel to the Gaza Strip to prolong civilian suffering while preventing a total collapse of the besieged territory' (The New Arab, 2024). This strategy, termed 'calibrated oppression' by some analysts, aims to maintain a state of
chronic dependency, preventing self-sufficiency or organized resistance. The implication is that just enough fuel is permitted to prevent mass casualties from starvation or disease that would trigger international intervention, but not enough for sustained recovery or functional governance. This isn't just a byproduct of conflict; it is, as the article states, 'using fuel scarcity as a weapon'.
CASE B: The 'Dagan Doctrine' and the Management of Palestinian Life (2000s) This current framing finds a documented antecedent in the 'Dagan doctrine' (or 'humanitarian minimum') articulated in the mid-2000s concerning Gaza. Following Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the subsequent imposition of a blockade, officials openly discussed limiting essential goods. In 2008, Dov Weisglass, an
advisor to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, famously stated that the policy was to put Palestinians 'on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger' (Haaretz, 2008). This was not a hypothetical discussion; detailed calculations were made on the calorie intake necessary per person to avoid humanitarian catastrophe, influencing the tonnage of food and supplies permitted into Gaza. This included