[permaculture] Fwd: [food_justice] Israel still destroying Gaza farmlands

rafter t. sass rafter at liberationecology.org
Tue May 26 10:58:21 EDT 2009


rafter t. sass
The Liberation Ecology Project
liberationecology.org
518-567-7407
skype: raughter



Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Just Food, Jews!" <jews4foodjustice at gmail.com>
> Date: May 26, 2009 1:31:42 AM CDT
> To: growing_foodandjustice at lists.riseup.net
> Subject: [food_justice] Israel still destroying Gaza farmlands
>
> Israel destroying Gaza's farmlands
> Eva Bartlett, Electronic Intifada, 22 May 2009
>
> On the morning of 4 May 2009, Israeli troops set fire to more  
> Palestinian crops, along Gaza's eastern border with Israel. The  
> Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000  
> square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley  
> ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees.
>
> Local farmers report that the blaze carried over a four-kilometer  
> stretch on the Palestinian side of the eastern border land. Ibrahim  
> Hassan Safadi, 49, from one of the farming families whose crops were  
> destroyed by the blaze, said that the fires were smoldering until  
> early evening, despite efforts by the fire brigades to extinguish  
> them.
>
> Safadi says he was present when Israeli soldiers fired small bombs  
> into his field, which soon after caught ablaze. He explained that  
> "The Israeli soldiers fired from their jeeps, causing a fire to  
> break out on the land. They burned the wheat, burned the pomegranate  
> trees ... The fire spread across the valley. We called the fire  
> brigades. They came to the area and put out the fire. But in some  
> places the fire started again." According to Safadi, he lost 30,000  
> square meters to the blaze, including 300 pomegranate trees, 150  
> olive trees, and wheat.
>
> In the border areas it has long since become nearly impossible to  
> work on the land due to almost daily shooting from the Israeli  
> soldiers. The crops that were burned on 4 May were dried and ready  
> to harvest, meaning that they were extremely flammable.
>
> "It took only three minutes for the fire to destroy 65,000 square  
> meters," said Nahed Jaber Abu Said, whose farmland lies a few  
> kilometers down the road from Safadi. He added that "It was nearly  
> 9am. I was here when the Israeli jeeps came. An Israeli soldier at  
> the fence shot an explosive into our field of wheat. It went up in  
> flames immediately."
>
> Safadi said that the arson attack was the third major time his farm  
> has suffered from an Israeli attack. In previous attacks over the  
> last decade, he explained, Israeli soldiers bulldozed his land,  
> razing his lemon, olive and clementine trees as well as demolishing  
> greenhouses.
>
> "We've suffered great losses. The Israeli soldiers have destroyed so  
> much of our land, trees and equipment. They've cost us a lot of  
> money," he said, citing cumulative losses of $330,000 since 2000  
> when the heightened invasions began. In the last attack, Safadi said  
> that $130,000 worth of crops, trees and irrigation piping was  
> destroyed.
>
>
> A wheat field destroyed by fire. On top of the destruction, Safadi  
> complains of not being able to replace destroyed items like the  
> plastic hosing used to irrigate his fields. These, along with  
> fertilizers and machinery replacement parts, are banned from  
> entering Gaza due to the Israeli-led and internationally-backed  
> whole-scale siege of the territory.
>
> Abu Said reports losses of $2,000 on one patch of his land alone.  
> "This isn't including the land closest to the border fence," he  
> said. "I'm so sad now, what can I do?"
>
> His experiences also extend beyond the 4 May attacks, and beyond the  
> loss of land. In 2008, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 11 of his  
> sheep and seriously injured a 15-year-old cousin, Jaber, by shooting  
> him in the mouth.
>
> Attacks by Israeli soldiers occur on a near-daily basis along Gaza's  
> borders with Israel. Nearly a decade ago, Israel unilaterally  
> imposed a "buffer" or "no-go" zone solely on the Gaza side of their  
> shared borders. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization  
> (FAO) and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, the initial  
> 100-meter "off-limits" area has now extended to one kilometer across  
> much of Gaza's eastern border and two kilometers along the Strip's  
> northern border. FAO further reports that roughly one-third of  
> Gaza's agricultural land lies within the confines of the "buffer  
> zone."
>
> Since the 18 January ceasefire, three Palestinian civilians,  
> including one child, have been killed in the "buffer zone" area from  
> shooting and shelling by Israeli forces. Another 12 Palestinians  
> have been injured, including three children and two women, due to  
> Israeli fire along the border.
>
> In addition to the physical threat and the destruction of  
> agricultural land and equipment, Gaza's farming sector is further  
> devastated by the destruction of what is believed to be hundreds of  
> wells and sources of water and the contamination of farmland due to  
> Israel's invasion of Gaza at the beginning of the year. As reported  
> by the Guardian newspaper in February 2009, these attacks have left  
> nearly 60 percent of Gaza's agricultural land useless.
>
> The consequences of the active destruction of Gaza's farming sector  
> are amplified within the context of Israel's siege and the stagnant  
> state of rebuilding efforts since the ceasefire. With only a trickle  
> of aid entering Gaza and poverty and malnutrition rates soaring, the  
> ability to produce food is all the more vital to Palestinians in Gaza.
>
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10550.shtml
>
> All images by Eva Bartlett.
>
> Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who  
> arrived in Gaza in November 2008 on the third Free Gaza Movement  
> boat. She has been volunteering with the International Solidarity  
> Movement and documenting Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in  
> Gaza. During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, she and other ISM  
> volunteers accompanied ambulances and documenting the Israeli  
> attacks on the Gaza Strip.
> To change your subscriber options (e.g., digest mode,standard  
> mode,unsubscribe), contact: dianefaydodge at hotmail.com
>



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