Despite a ceasefire coming into effect in recent days, farmers and the agri-food economy continue to face enormous, increasing challenges and restrictions in the West Bank.

In the West Bank, part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory that also includes East Jerusalem and Gaza, illegal settlements are expanding and are seizing Palestinian farmland at a rate not seen in years.

There are now around 750,000 settlers in West Bank and East Jerusalem – double what it was in 2000.

The West Bank is just 5,860km2 with a population of 3m.

Violent attacks by settlers and soldiers on Palestinians are also at a record high.

Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since January 2023; over 15,000 have been injured.

According to the UN’s Human Rights Committee (OCHA) the level of attacks on Palestinians is the worst in “nearly two decades” since the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) began documenting them.

“The year 2024 has recorded the highest numbers in nearly two decades, with approximately 4,250 Palestinians displaced, 1,760 structures destroyed, and about 1,400 incidents involving Israeli settlers across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” it said earlier this month.

Settler attacks can involve dozens of assailants at a time and see property damage, crop destruction, animal injuries or deaths, and attacks on people.

Attacks intensify in olive harvesting season.

Last year 51 incidents were documented and verified by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation.

October 2024 alone saw about 60 Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers across the West Bank and “more than 1,000, mostly olive, trees were burnt, sawed-off or otherwise vandalised.”

“It is, frankly, very concerning that it’s not only attacks on people, but it’s attacks on their olive groves as well,” according to OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.

“The olive harvest is an economic lifeline for tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the West Bank.”

Increasingly large areas around the settlements and around the separation wall – an 800+ km barrier dividing Palestinian areas form other areas – are now declared off limits to Palestinian farmers.

Ag advisor Moayyad Bsharat of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Palestine.

Previously some restricted access was allowed, but this is disappearing while the off-limits area is expanding.

The declaration of “firing zones” has also increased. These military areas become impossible for Palestinian farmers to access.

A huge new area in the Jordan valley was seized as “state property” in July last year – the largest in three decades.

These lands can then be used for military purposes or, in some cases, later given for settlement development.

Hani Oudeh (left) and Abdul Men'em Tahir (right) in Qusra, West Bank.

Meanwhile, the military occupation has tightened its grip on all of the West Bank, including rural areas.

By September last year, the UN estimated that there were already 793 road barriers of various sorts, ranging from full military checkpoints to informal mounds. This is an increase of around 150 in 15 months.

Fruit and vegetable production is important for Palestine. These movement restrictions impact tomatoes, cucumbers and other perishables especially.

Financial pressure on Palestinians is exacerbated by a number of measures the current far-right government has imposed.

Partial freeze

Since May of last year, Israel is refusing to release any tax revenue collected in Palestine to the Palestinian Authority.

This was announced by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, reportedly in response to Ireland, Norway and Spain recognising a Palestinian state. Already there was a partial freeze on transferring tax revenue.

So, along with severe unemployment, a reliance on dwindling foreign aid, a trade deficit and runaway inflation, all public workers are now receiving only partial wages.

Moreover, 160,000 Palestinians who worked in Israel were immediately made unemployed after 7 October, with no unemployment benefit.

According to the International Court of Justice, the State of Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory “is unlawful” and it must “cease immediately all new settlement activities”.

Israel must “make reparation for the damage caused”, the ICJ advised.