Al-Shabaka – When Palestinians can grow their own food on their own land and are able to fish their sea, they will be food secure. Staples such as olives, za’atar, figs and date palms are deeply rooted in the culture and history of the land. There is a need for a Right to Farm Campaign that will mobilize local communities as well as solidarity activists, agricultural unions and donors for a resistance economy that is deeply connected to the unique cultures, history, land, and political aspirations of the Palestinian people. Read the summary below:

LOST POTENTIAL: The West Bank’s agricultural potential is well known. Less is written about the potential of the Gaza Strip, and very little attention is paid to the pastoral lifestyle of the Bedouin, which characterizes sustainability, using the land in an efficient and productive manner and maintaining it for future generations. However, the entire agricultural sector has been devastated by Israeli policies as well as the Palestinian Authority (PA) and donor policies and practices.

The farming sector began to be affected when thousands of Palestinians left their land in the West Bank and Gaza to work in Israel and in the Israeli settlements, because of Israeli policies and restrictions which reduced local opportunities. After the Oslo Accords, Area C, which constitutes 62% of the West Bank and includes the most of the fertile land, natural resources and water, came under full Israeli military and settler control.

EXPORT MARKET MISTAKES: Although not as devastating as Israel’s colonization and dispossession, PA and donor policies have still been pernicious. Conventional economic theories are applied to the occupied territories, expecting them to thrive by specializing in the production of goods in which they have a competitive productive advantage.

Once the shift had been made to export markets, repeated Israeli border closures destroyed harvests and farmers’ livelihoods and ended the Western-inspired dream of “billions” in revenue from Palestinian luxury exports of flowers and strawberries as well as other less exotic agricultural products.

MANUFACTURED POVERTY: Palestine’s poverty is a politically engineered human catastrophe in which economic growth and freedom are contradictory endeavors. How is it possible to consider diverting land and resources to produce flowers and strawberries for European markets while 88% of Gazans receive food aid and 75% are malnourished?

When Palestinians can grow their own food on their own land and are able to fish their sea, displacing Israeli produce from the market, they will be food secure. Staples such as olives, za’atar, figs and date palms are deeply rooted in the culture and history of the land. They provide nourishment during difficult times, require little in terms of water and maintenance, and are well adapted to the climate.

RIGHT TO FARM: There is a need for a Right to Farm Campaign that will mobilize local communities as well as solidarity activists, agricultural unions and donors for a resistance economy that is deeply connected to the unique cultures, history, land, and political aspirations of the Palestinian people. These are many ways to simultaneously cultivate local livelihoods, reduce aid dependency, and exert the Palestinian right to the land, even under conditions of settler colonialism and prolonged occupation (see here, and here).

Unlike the rhetoric and mirage of “state” or “institution” building, a farming policy can bring clarity and direction to Palestinian development because it would connect Palestinian consumers, farmers, Bedouin, and refugees and exiles in a resistance economy. Employment would be generated and local markets strengthened, regaining some measure of control over the Palestinian economy.

THE PATH TO FREEDOM: The nature of Palestinian dispossession demands that the path to freedom be the land and everything associated with it: farms and fields, desert and sea, farmers and Bedouin, milk and olives.

Condensed from "Farming Palestine for Freedom" by agronomist Rami Zurayk and Al-Shabaka Policy Advisors Samer Abdelnour and Alaa Tartir. July 2, 2012. For more authoritative and independent analysis of Palestinian political and economic development, please go to www.al-shabaka.org.