This visual is based on a story covered by Al Jazeera, captures the case of one farmer who faced a heightened campaign of intimidation at the hands of Illegal Israeli settlers, as well as confiscations and detentions by the Israeli police and military in the Ein al-Hilweh community in the Jordan Valley.
The Jordan Valley is often referred to as the breadbasket of Palestine, as it contains much of the West Bank’s fertile and agricultural land. Systemic Israeli attacks on Palestinian agricultural communities in this area deny Palestinians their right to food sovereignty and to exist and thrive on their land. Through restrictions on access to land and water, the destruction of agricultural infrastructure and crops, theft of livestock, state-supported settler attacks, and the displacement of farming and herding communities, Palestinians are increasingly prevented from cultivating the land and maintaining the agricultural livelihoods that have long supported their communities. These measures do not just harm individual farming families; they also erode the material conditions Palestinians need to sustain locally-rooted food systems, which are fundamental to survival and self-determination.
