• HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About PCHR
    • Philosophy
    • PCHR Staff
    • Organisation & Units
    • Internships
    • Funding
    • Donate to PCHR
    • How to help
    • Feedback & Complaints
    • Contact
  • NEWS
  • PRESS RELEASES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • 2021 Elections
    • Annual Report
    • Weekly Reports
    • Thematic Reports
      • Access Restricted Areas
      • Death Penalty
      • Election Reports
      • Freedom of Movement
      • Freedom of Expression / Peaceful Assemly
      • Freedom Of Association
      • Home Demolition / Distruction of Property
      • Israeli Settlements
      • Legislative Council
      • Prisoners
      • Right to Health
      • Women Rights
      • The War on the Gaza Strip
      • Fishermen
      • Special Reports & Studies
      • Torture in Palestinian Prisons
      • Assassination Reports
    • Fact Sheets
    • Position Papers
    • Updates
      • Closure Update
      • Field Updates
      • Local Council Elections
    • Videos
    • UN Interventions
    • ICC / Universal Jurisdiction
    • Narrtives
    • Posters
    • External Publications
    • Interventions
LogoLogoLogoLogoLogo
عربي
Donate
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About PCHR
    • Philosophy
    • PCHR Staff
    • Organisation & Units
    • Internships
    • Funding
    • Donate to PCHR
    • How to help
    • Feedback & Complaints
    • Contact
  • NEWS
  • PRESS RELEASES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • 2021 Elections
    • Annual Report
    • Weekly Reports
    • Thematic Reports
      • Access Restricted Areas
      • Death Penalty
      • Election Reports
      • Freedom of Movement
      • Freedom of Expression / Peaceful Assemly
      • Freedom Of Association
      • Home Demolition / Distruction of Property
      • Israeli Settlements
      • Legislative Council
      • Prisoners
      • Right to Health
      • Women Rights
      • The War on the Gaza Strip
      • Fishermen
      • Special Reports & Studies
      • Torture in Palestinian Prisons
      • Assassination Reports
    • Fact Sheets
    • Position Papers
    • Updates
      • Closure Update
      • Field Updates
      • Local Council Elections
    • Videos
    • UN Interventions
    • ICC / Universal Jurisdiction
    • Narrtives
    • Posters
    • External Publications
    • Interventions
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About PCHR
    • Philosophy
    • PCHR Staff
    • Organisation & Units
    • Internships
    • Funding
    • Donate to PCHR
    • How to help
    • Feedback & Complaints
    • Contact
  • NEWS
  • PRESS RELEASES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • 2021 Elections
    • Annual Report
    • Weekly Reports
    • Thematic Reports
      • Access Restricted Areas
      • Death Penalty
      • Election Reports
      • Freedom of Movement
      • Freedom of Expression / Peaceful Assemly
      • Freedom Of Association
      • Home Demolition / Distruction of Property
      • Israeli Settlements
      • Legislative Council
      • Prisoners
      • Right to Health
      • Women Rights
      • The War on the Gaza Strip
      • Fishermen
      • Special Reports & Studies
      • Torture in Palestinian Prisons
      • Assassination Reports
    • Fact Sheets
    • Position Papers
    • Updates
      • Closure Update
      • Field Updates
      • Local Council Elections
    • Videos
    • UN Interventions
    • ICC / Universal Jurisdiction
    • Narrtives
    • Posters
    • External Publications
    • Interventions
26 02. 2017
0
Share

Life under siege: A farmer’s struggle with the occupation

26-2

Abdel Salam Manasra is a Gazan citizen in his 50s, who has dedicated his life to agriculture and farming. Farming has always been his family’s main profession, as inherited from their ancestors. Abdel Salam’s farmland is located east of the Shuja’iyya neighborhood in Gaza city, near the Israeli border – an area which used to represent the food basket of Gaza, with its variety of stone and citrus fruits, fig and olive trees, as well as different kinds of vegetables.

Up until the early 2000s, before the tightening of Israeli restrictions on Gazans, “3 to 4 farmers worked on every 1000 square meters in this area, which was a major source of income”, Abdel Salam describes. The tightening of the siege went hand in hand with an increase of Israeli terror that harshly affected the farmers: Ground incursions and invasions caused death and led to leveling of farmland, uprooting of trees and an increasing level of unemployment.

With the Israeli ban on the exportation of goods, the prices for agricultural products in Gaza collapsed.  “The farmers, including me, found no financial reward that would cover at least the basic needs of our families”, Abdel Salam adds. A large number of farmers in the area had to stop working on their farmlands after the closure of 2007, because they could not afford to sustain it. Agriculture-related prices such as crops and fertilizers were more than ten times higher than before 2006, forcing Abdel Salam to sell his greenhouses. The closure did not only pose restrictions on the availability of fertilizers and pesticides, but their high prices are not affordable for the majority of farmers. Furthermore, a large part of the available pesticides do not have a fertilizing effect on the soil because they lack essential components.

After being forced to sell his greenhouses, Abdel Salam tried to generate income from planting olive trees. “Today I am 52 years old and I have tried to plant olive trees three times”, but every attempt was stopped by the Israelis, either through bulldozers or shells and missiles during the 2014 offensive.

A second major consequence of the ongoing closure is a buffer zone stretching from the Israeli border up to 300 meters into the Gaza Strip, which is exposed to shootings and shelling by Israeli forces. A large number of families used to have farmland in this area, which has increased the production of agricultural products but the farmers cannot reach it without risking their lives. Several attempts of farmers, supported by the ICRC and other international organizations, to plant wheat and other basic crops were met with violence by the Israeli forces, leaving Palestinian farmers injured or dead.

The farmers of Shuja’iyya are not only suffering from the harsh circumstances imposed on the farming sector but also from miserable living conditions.  Like many families, Abdel Salam and his brothers spent all their money on their farmland and houses, which were largely destroyed by the Israeli aggression of 2014. With all that said, Abdel Salam stresses “we will continue to replant our land, for the connection we have with the land”. He is currently working on a project to restore family owned land of 60 Dunums (equaling 60,000 square meters). By digging water well and building a system of pipelines, he is hoping to bring his land back to life.

“I would like to send the message that the farmer is a helpless person who has nothing in his hand but his axe”, Abdel Salam concludes. Therefore, he should have a free hand to use his farmland, to sell products and cover the basic needs of his family, without having to risk his life and being subjected to shootings by the Israeli forces.

 

logo_PCI_arabe_normal

 

 



The center is an independent Palestinian human rights organization (registered as a limited non-profit company) based in Gaza City. The Center enjoys consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is a subsidiary of the International Commission of Jurists - Geneva. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) - Pairs; Member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network - Copenhagen; Member of the International Legal Aid Association (ILAC) - Stockholm

• Protecting human rights and promote the rule of law in accordance with international standards. • Create and developing democratic institutions and an active civil society, while promoting a democratic culture within Palestinian society. • Supporting all efforts aimed at enabling the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable rights in regard to self-determination and independence in accordance with international Law and UN resolutions
  • Home
  • PCHR Staff
  • NEWS
  • PRESS RELEASES
  • Contact

Quick contact


    captcha

    Archive Calendar

    March 2021
    SMTWTFS
     123456
    78910111213
    14151617181920
    21222324252627
    28293031 
    « Feb    
    Copyright 2020 PCHR