Palestinian farmers living in the occupied Jordan Valley say they are concerned about what the future holds for them with Israel’s impending annexation of the territory, which could start as soon as Wednesday.
The concerns that abound in annexation will prevent them from accessing their land and will be cut off from the rest of the West Bank, destroying their export business and their only source of income.
The strategic and fertile Jordan Valley is known as the “barn” for Palestinians, as it constitutes half of the total agricultural area that provides food to Palestinians in the West Bank.
“If the annexation continues, it will be a disaster for us farmers in the Jordan Valley,” Muneer Nasasri, 52, from the village of Jiffly, 30 kilometers south of Jericho, told Al Jazeera.
“We are tired of the question of annexation. We are very afraid of what the future may hold. We are all afraid and we expect something to happen on July 1 or July 10 or 15. What could happen?” Nasasri said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to begin the annexation of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including parts of the strategic Jordan Valley, from July 1, fulfilling an election campaign promise.
The plan to annex as much as a third of the occupied West Bank was prompted by the presentation by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, in late January of his so-called “Middle East plan” while Netanyahu was by his side.
But the details of how Israel plans to proceed with the annexation, as well as the timing, are unclear.
US officials have said that no final decision has been made on the next steps to implement the Trump plan.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military and intelligence officials have warned against the measure as it poses a security risk as it could lead to an uprising in the West Bank.
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‘I need to get our land back’
Still, whether annexation begins July 1 or later, Palestinian farmers say the move was expected for a time.
Over the years, they have witnessed Israeli authorities increase evacuation orders and place restrictions on farmers’ access to their fertile land and waters.
Due to Israeli restrictions, only 50,000 dunums (12,000 acres) of Palestinian land, one-eighth of the land under Palestinian control suitable for agriculture, is cultivated, according to the Israeli NGO B’Tselem.
This is why, over the years and with the help of the Palestinian Union of Agricultural Labor Committees (UAWC), farmers in the Jordan Valley have organized to resist the movement by claiming the most possible from their lands.
Financed mainly by donations, the union has helped Palestinian farmers build roads to access their land and deploy heavy machinery to help cultivate land that would otherwise be difficult to level.
According to UWAC chief Fuad Abu Seif, the organization has recovered about 12,000 dunums (1,200 hectares) of land since 2013 in Area C of the Jordan Valley and the West Bank, which remains under Israeli control.
Since 1995, Palestinian farmers have planted some 700,000 productive trees, including almond, olive and grape trees.
Israeli soldiers stand guard as a Palestinian farmer plants olive trees during a protest against what Palestinians say is confiscation of land for illegal Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley [File: Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters]
With the impending annexation, Abu Seif said his efforts have doubled in the Jordan Valley as empty lands become easy to reclaim for Israelis.
“We reviewed our plan to focus on the area between Bethlehem and Hebron, and the rest for the Jordan Valley,” said Abu Seif.
“We need to change the facts on the ground … we need to have sovereignty over our resources. In the last five, six years [the Israelis] They have accelerated their program of theft of Palestinian land in different ways. We need to get our land back … At least we can delay confiscations. “
‘Lose it forever’
Ibrahim Sawafta, 48, from Bardala, a village in the northern Jordan Valley that is expected to be annexed, told Al Jazeera that Israel has been trying to reduce the number of Palestinians in the area for years.
A piece of land near his home had been closed by Israeli military order since 1967, and local farmers were unable to irrigate it until the union provided equipment four years ago.
At first, the Israelis tried to avoid them, but the farmers took the case to four courts and in the end, they managed to reclaim the land, Sawafta said.
Since then, he and 15 other farmers have used the 600 hectares (1,500 acres) to grow watermelon and melon.
“We have thousands of acres that we have been unable to reach. [The Israelis] They say that we cannot use these lands for security reasons. If they apply annexation, we will lose it forever, “Sawafta said.
“Annexation means that Israel will have control over all the land. They will apply Israeli law to our lands; we will be at their mercy … We will suffer greatly if annexation occurs.”
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‘A silent transfer’
Life as a Palestinian farmer is already difficult under the current status quo, Sawafta explained.
He said that of 2,500 cubic meters / hour (88,000 cubic feet) of water produced by the two local wells, 2,000 cubic meters is diverted to illegal settlements in the area with only 120 cubic meters (4,200 cubic feet) provided to Bardala and small amounts similar to other Palestinian villages.
“If we don’t have water, we won’t have life here,” said Sawafta.
“They want to make life difficult for Palestinian farmers, so they leave. It is a silent transfer because they want this area; it is a very strategic area for them.“
Abu Seif warned that farmers would lose all livelihood capacity if annexation continues. “Life in the Jordan Valley will be impossible,” he said.
Palestinians living in Area C also live with the threat of demolition of houses, as the Israeli authorities systematically deny them building permits.
Abu Seif noted from 2007 to 2019, Israel demolished 800 houses in the Jordan Valley. Since 1967, 50,000 Palestinians have been evacuated from the area.
Some 60,000 Palestinians remain, along with 11,000 Jewish settlers.
Palestinian farmers living outside the Jordan Valley are also concerned that their lands will not be exempt from annexation invasion.
Hani Hamamdi, from Yata village in the southern hills of Hebron, told Al Jazeera that his land is on the edge of the expected annexation area.
Over the years, Israeli authorities uprooted some of his family’s crops, including 100 olive trees, claiming that the land belonged to the state.
They also demolished the tent the family lives in numerous times, so often that the father finally dug a cave-shaped hole in the mountain as a home for the family.
His cave dwelling is now also under threat of demolition.
“I am very, very concerned. If we lose the land it is a big problem; we have no other resource to live on,” said Hamamdi.
Rima Mustafa contributed to this report.
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