Harvest in the Buffer Zone

Many farmers in the Gaza Strip are being denied access to their land by Israeli occupation forces. An arbitrary 'buffer zone' is being imposed hundreds of metres deep long the Green Line. Agricultural land has been destroyed in these areas and massive numbers of olive and fruit trees have been bulldozed, devastating the livelihoods of entire farming communities. According to the PCHR, approximately 31.503 dunums/31.5 million square metres of land in the Gaza Strip, most of it agricultural, has been razed by the Israelis. This represents at least 10% of the total arable land base of the Gaza Strip. This statistic was published in 2005 but much more destruction has been carried out since. The Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights quoted 31,845,815 square metres of agricultural land levelled by the end of 2007. This does not include lands confiscated more than once; the area confiscated being nearly 10 million square metres.

Gazan farmers have also been impacted by the illegal Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. Fuel shortages have hampered their ability to power their irrigation systems and closures have made crop exports impossible. As food supplies are severely restricted, it is more urgent than ever for Gaza to be as self-sufficient as possible in food production. The Israeli attacks on farmers and their property are yet a further escalation of the collective punishment suffered by the population of Gaza on a daily basis under this siege. They are akin to the atrocities endured by Gazan fishermen as they struggle to access local food sources in the face of arrests, injuries and even killings. The plight of these farmers and fishermen goes unnoticed by the international community, despite blatant violations of the current ceasefire, which would make headline news if the tables were turned.

9th October 2008, Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip. Members of ISM Gaza supported an action organised by a Palestinian youth group called The Local Initiative. Olive farmers were accompanied onto their land, situated extremely close to the Green Line, under the shadow of several Israeli watchtowers. Palestinian and international activists worked alongside local farmers to bring in the 2008 harvest. Farmers in this area have not been able to reach their groves and approximately 200,000 of their trees have been destroyed. However, on this day farmers were able to reach their groves and successfully harvest their olives, fulfilling their basic human right to produce food for their families and their communities.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• OLIVE
• TREES
• HARVEST
• GAZA
• PALESTINIAN
• FARMERS
• BUFFER
• ZONE
• ATTACKS
• BULLDOZED
• ISRAELI
• OCCUPATION
• ISM

[thejudicialbranch9]

considering the events of 01/29/09 I would have to say the UN has more to deliberate on 2/2/09