Palestinian Farmers’ Struggle for Survival and the Fight for Food Sovereignty
One Year of Israeli Genocidal War and Ethnic Cleansing
For over a year, Palestine has endured the relentless onslaught of Israeli genocidal warfare, coupled with 76 years of ongoing settler colonialism, systemic land theft, and deliberate attacks on indigenous food systems. This dark anniversary serves as a stark reminder of the escalating intensity of Israeli settler colonialism across all of Palestine from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and the areas occupied since 1948. The consequences are catastrophic, as unprecedented suffering and devastation continue to be inflicted upon the Palestinian people.
The Israeli occupation has systematically deployed violence, imposed resource blockades, and targeted the destruction of farmlands and vital infrastructure. These actions have led to a manufactured, human-made famine in the Gaza Strip and intensified food insecurity across the West Bank. At the heart of this assault are Palestinian farmers the guardians of the land and the backbone of food production who have been disproportionately affected. Their livelihoods, cultural heritage, and food sovereignty are under siege, as Israeli forces aim to erase their existence, sever their self-reliance, and dismantle their connection to the land.
Overview of the Devastation of Gaza’s Agricultural Sector
The Israeli genocidal assault on Gaza has pushed its agricultural sector to the brink of collapse, leaving a once-thriving landscape in ruins. The scale of destruction is not accidental but a calculated effort to create a human-made famine, crippling the land and the livelihoods of those who depend on it. Israeli attacks have systematically targeted not only the physical landscape but also the very infrastructure that sustains Gaza’s food production. The goal: starve the population into submission by obliterating the ability of Palestinian farmers to cultivate, harvest, and feed their people.
Between October 7, 2023, and September 1, 2024, the devastation inflicted by Israeli bombardments on Gaza’s agricultural sector has been catastrophic. According to damage assessments conducted by FAO and UNOSAT using satellite imagery and data from local agricultural authorities, the extent of the destruction is staggering. Israeli forces have decimated 67.6% of Gaza’s cropland, wiping out 10,183 hectares out of a total of 15,053 hectares. This figure represents more than just land it symbolizes entire communities stripped of their livelihoods and plunged deeper into food insecurity.
The hardest-hit regions include Khan Younis, where 61.5% of its cropland has been obliterated, and North Gaza, where an unprecedented 78.2% of farmland has been devastated. This destruction extends across key components of Gaza’s food production systems: 71.2% of orchards, 67.1% of field crops, and 58.5% of vegetable farms have been wiped out.
In some regions, the devastation is nearly total. For example, in the Gaza Governorate, 86.2% of orchards and tree crops have been destroyed, shrinking the cultivated land from 2,100 hectares to a mere 293 hectares. Equally alarming is the damage to greenhouses, which are vital for producing food year-round. Across Gaza, 44.3% of greenhouses have been destroyed, and in Gaza City, the destruction is near absolute – 99.7% of greenhouses have been annihilated, leaving no viable space for vegetable cultivation.
The destruction does not stop at crops. Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure has been systematically dismantled. Over 606 home barns, 538 broiler farms, and 427 sheep farms have been destroyed, along with hundreds of agricultural warehouses, ponds, and animal shelters. The fishing sector, another essential food source, has been crippled by Israeli naval attacks, worsening Gaza’s food crisis. In addition, the targeting of Gaza’s water resources is devastating: 1,188 agricultural wells, over half of Gaza’s total, are now inoperative. Compounding this disaster is the destruction of Gaza’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, which plays a critical role in irrigation and environmental sustainability. Israeli attacks have shattered its solar panels, key recovery wells, and vital infrastructure, aggravating both the humanitarian and environmental crises.
Targeting Palestinian Food Sovereignty
The Israeli genocidal war has exacerbated its long-standing structural violence against Palestinian rural communities, targeting both land and resources. The use of food and essential resources as weapons of war has become a hallmark of Israeli systematic violence against Palestinians. The destruction of key agricultural infrastructure, combined with the 17-year blockade, has destroyed Gaza’s ability to sustain itself. Israel’s strategy encompasses the weaponization of food to create a state of famine in Gaza as an intentional, calculated act of brutality aimed at starving Palestinians into submission.
Simultaneously in the West Bank, the Israeli occupation uses the same strategies in different manifestations. Palestinian farmers face relentless Israeli settler violence and increasing land theft. Settlers, with the material and ideological support of the Israeli government, regularly uproot trees, poison crops, and block access to farming lands. Along with the constant violence of the Israeli occupation forces, ongoing Israeli military lockdown of the West Bank, rapidly increasing settlement expansion, and imposition of at least 793 movement obstacles, these settler attacks systematically disenfranchise Palestinians and violently prevent rural communities from harvesting or even reaching their land. By devastating land, homes, and vital infrastructure, these attacks not only endanger lives but threaten Palestinian livelihoods. Israeli settler attacks strategically target ‘Area C’, which is the largest and most fertile part of the West Bank, and the prime target of Israeli settler expansion. As the historic food basket of the West Bank, the land labeled as ‘Area C’ is critical to Palestinian livelihoods, agriculture, herding, and food systems.
A Call for Immediate International Solidarity and Action
One year into Israel’s genocidal war, the fight for Palestinian food sovereignty stands as a core pillar in the broader struggle for justice, dignity, and liberation from occupation. Palestinian farmers and agricultural workers, the guardians of our land and vital food systems, are at the forefront of a systematic Israeli effort aimed at erasing their existence, livelihoods, and future. This deliberate assault on Palestine’s agriculture is not only a war on the land but a war on the very essence of Palestinian identity, resilience, and survival.
UAWC urgently calls on all nations, international institutions, grassroots movements, and people of conscience to act without delay. Palestinian lives, lands, and rights are under existential threat, and the global community must rise in collective defense. There is no time to wait. To stand by idly while Palestinian farmers are uprooted, starved, and violently displaced is to be complicit in Israel’s colonial apartheid regime.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already declared Israel’s occupation of Palestine illegal, demanding the immediate cessation of settlement activities and the dismantling of apartheid infrastructure. The United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed these decisions, calling for the end of Israeli occupation within twelve months and urging the imposition of sanctions on Israel. These international rulings are not mere suggestions; they are binding legal obligations that the global community must enforce.
In the face of Israel’s systematic destruction and violent targeting of Palestinian farmers, we call on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities. We demand that “Israel” be held accountable for its flagrant violations of international law, including its use of starvation as a weapon of war, and that comprehensive sanctions, including arms and trade embargoes, be imposed.
We also call upon social movements and civil society worldwide to intensify their support for the Palestinian people. Solidarity must be shown through actions that dismantle the mechanisms of occupation, colonization, and exploitation. This is a global struggle against injustice, and we must rise collectively.
Let this anniversary be a call to action, not despair. Palestine will rise, and its farmers will endure. Together, we march towards freedom, dignity, and sovereignty.
Palestine, 7th October 2024