The effects of the occupation on the West Bank have been inhumane for many decades, but for fourteen months they have deteriorated dramatically: More than 5,000 hectares of farmland have been confiscated. 900 new control barriers reduce traffic on roads and roads and isolate cities, towns and farms. Hundreds of new settlements have been established and many more have been expanded. Thousands of cases highlight systematic policies that destroy the livelihoods of Palestinian rural farming communities: the demolition of housing and farming infrastructure, the confiscation and encirclement of land and the impediments and restrictions on water supplies. This deliberate effort to eliminate the native population is instigated by the settlers themselves and put into practice with complete impunity, always with the help and support of the Israeli army, in their constant attacks: theft and destruction of crops and crops, damage to infrastructure and sabotage, etc. Many growers are being arbitrarily detained, injured and killed every day. While we were there, many were in the hospital with serious injuries.

All this social engineering aimed at extermination is done with the complicity of the “democratic” governments of the West, and not only because weapons are sold to Israel. Also, in the face of constant violations of human rights, in a blatant way, by legitimizing Israel through trade treaties and by making large monetary investments or buying the agricultural production that comes from the land swamp of Palestinian farmers.

We are not talking about extraordinary abuses under the policy of occupation, but about the latest in the historic milestones that have marked the life of every Palestinian in the last 80 years: The Nakba of 1948, the occupation of 1967, the Intifadas of 1987 and 2005... and now the genocide.

In the time spent with Abdullah, Jamal, Samir, Omar, Mahmud, Ibrahim, Mohamed, Fouad and others, we have witnessed their exemplary resistance and commitment to food sovereignty. This, for them, is not only a survival strategy in the face of murder, but also a source of inspiration for us to intensify our solidarity with the struggle for the liberation of the peasants, which, in Palestine, is the struggle of the whole people.

Losing ancestral lands

Abdullah and his neighbors have offered us coffee in the old room of the municipality of Qusra, in the region of Nablus. The signs on the walls show images of neighbors who were killed with impunity by the Israeli army while defending their land. Some of their children are with us.

After the presentations, they take us on a walk to show us the large pile of land that the settlers have parked to prevent access to their lands. For months they have not been able to access the plots that have been cultivated for generations: it is an olive grove that now has an Israeli flag as its main symbol. The time of last year was disastrous, but this year they have been able to collect part of the olive harvest thanks to the presence of international volunteers, who sometimes manage to stop the violent attacks of the settlers who live in the neighboring settlement.

When we approach the new control barrier that prevents the municipality from communicating with the region and leaves several houses isolated, some children of the town come with us, smiling and attentive to the unusual situation. Only a few minutes have passed until armed Israeli soldiers appear to the teeth and order us to clear the area. We have surrendered, leaving the children in their games, in front of a few hundred years old rows of olive trees that were cut in half by the settlers in a previous attack.

The destruction of thousands of years of culture

Jammal brings his neighbors from the Bedouin village of Faresyeh together to welcome us in a simple carpeted shed. For decades, the Bedouins have stabilized their huts because the obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation have made it impossible for them to maintain their natural nomadic culture. As we walked along, we saw other similar villages recently demolished by the army. They were attacked last night by a group of settlers from the settlement that was built a few meters from the village after October 7, 2023. The modern constructions and the vigilance tower guarded by an armed soldier are easily highlighted.

The sheep have been in the stables for several months because the attacks of their illegal and aggressive new neighbors prevent them from going outside. The inability to graze the flock, insecurity, excessive expenditure on feed that they did not need before, water restrictions and difficulties in marketing the milk due to the new checkpoints imposed, jeopardize the duration of the activity that comes to them from their ancestors.

An old lady with a kufiya in her head doesn’t seem very happy with our visit, because the proverbial invitation to foreign witnesses is likely to be punished at dusk, once we leave, either with another attack or some precarious infrastructure they have, or even with the destruction of their homes. If this happens, they will not be able to ask anyone for help: the roads are cut off or tightly controlled by the Israeli army, and the Palestinian Authority Police have been looking the other way in the face of such events for a long time.