Introduction
Every year as olive harvesting season approaches in Palestine, increasing attacks against farmers are recorded. Palestinians face difficulty picking up the traditional fruits from their trees: both Israeli authorities and settlers cut, burn, and vandalize olive trees. This is an example of how Israel attempts to exercise control over Palestinian land: as Palestinians experience occupation; natural resources assume a central role in the issue.
This article analyses how settler colonialism takes the form of environmental injustice in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Firstly, it will be discussed how structural violence takes place around natural resources and access to land; in the form of the separation wall, settlements, house demolitions, control of water resources, and criminalization, in what is defined as settler colonialism. Secondly, these practices of environmental injustice will be related to how Palestinians are exposed to a higher level of environmental risk and food insecurity. Finally, the practice of vandalizing olive trees, as a case of environmental injustice in the context of structural violence will be analysed, before a discussion on how olive production can be seen as a resistance practice against settler colonialism.
Settler colonialism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Palestine News and Info Agency, “With the olive harvest season in Palestine is around the corner, settlers hack olive trees
in a West Bank land” (WAFA 2022) <https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/130806> accessed 15 September 2022
Israeli effort to seize control over Palestinian space has been referred to by scholars as “settler colonialism”. Settler colonialism attempts to replace, totally or in part, the original population of a given territory with a new society of settlers; the process is primarily dependent on controlling access to territory. This process of territorial expansion has been linked with a strategy of separation, defined as apartheid. Over time, Israeli actors access land and natural resources through these forms of structural violence.
One of the main techniques used to gain access to Palestinian land is the construction of settlements. The building of settlements takes place on land that was formerly the property of Palestinians, who are in turn deprived of their territory, fundamental for their livelihoods and holder of their memory. Bypass roads connect settlements and are only accessible by Israeli: they also play a crucial role in separating and annexing Palestinian land. Moreover, the separation wall is also responsible for reduced access to land and reduced mobility of Palestinians. It is a 460 kilometre line, mostly made of barbed wire and electric fences. This reduces access of agricultural workers to their land. Finally, Israeli authorities are conducting a process of criminalization against Palestinian people, creating a situation making Palestinians more likely to fall into a situation of illegality, particularly in relation to land use and access. Palestinians have to resort to building houses illegally, due to the complexities of obtaining a building license and a shortage of houses that has subsequently emerged. Illegal building however often results in demolition, showing how Palestinians’ right to decide over their land and development is reduced by legal means. These practices prove how Palestinians are
Omar Jabary Salamanca, Mezna Qato, Kareem Rabie, Sobhi Samour, “Past Is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine” (2012) Settler Colonial Studies 2(1), 2
Tate LeFevre, “Settler Colonialism” (Oxford Bibliographies, 2015)
<https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0125.xml?rskey=ef9i0C&result=1&q=settler%2Bcolonialism#firstMatch> accessed 10 September 2022
Julie Peteet, Space and Mobility in Palestine: Public cultures of the Middle East and North Africa (Indiana University Press 2017), 2
Human Rights Watch, A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution (HRW 2021) <https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution> accessed 12 September 2022
Vivien Sansour and Alaa Tartir, “Palestinian Farmers: A Last Stronghold of Resistance” (Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, 2014) <https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/palestinian-farmers-a-last-stronghold-of-resistance/> accessed 15 September 2022
Francesco Chiodelli , “Planning Illegality: The Roots of Unauthorised Housing in Arab East Jerusalem” (2012) 29(2) Cities, 102
subject to settler colonialism and how it influences their everyday lives and ability to meet their basic needs.
Settler colonialism as environmental (in)justice in the OPT
Environmental justice refers to “the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable environment for all, where ‘‘environment’’ is considered, in its totality, to include the ecological (biological), physical (natural and built), social, political, and economic environments”. Environmental justice refers to the situations in which the aforementioned right can be exercised, and through which the identities and dignity of beings are respected. On 28th July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution A/76/L.75, recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right.
In the OPT, Palestinians have reduced possibility to access and control their territory due to settler colonialism exercised by Israeli actors. The separation wall, checkpoints, bypass roads, settlements and ad hoc legislation have a deep influence on Palestinians’ ability to exercise their right to a “safe, healthy, productive and sustainable environment”, therefore resulting in environmental injustice.
Due to legal restrictions created by Israeli authorities, Palestinians do not have the right to drill wells or renovate existing ones, with Israel controlling around 85% of Palestinian water resources in the OPT. Moreover, the creation of settlements, roads, the separation wall, and military incursions into the OPT have caused water pollution in the area, with hazardous waste entering the groundwater aquifer systems in Palestinian territories.
Food production in OPT is also strongly influenced by Israeli policies. As previously mentioned, the creation of settlements results in a decline in availabile land for farming. Moreover, Israeli control of water resources is causing farmers to abandon their lands and look for alternative income, due to difficulties in growing products. These difficulties result in diminished food production, pushing around one third of Palestinians into food insecurity.
Johan Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” (1969) 6(3) Journal of Peace Research, 167
Ilaria Beretta, “Some Highlights on the Concept of Environmental Justice and its Use” (2012) 17 e-Cadernos, 1
Salem Hilmi, “No Sustainable Development in the Lack of Environmental Justice” (2019) 12(3) Environmental Justice, 141
United Nations General Aseembly Resolution A/76/L.75 (28 July 2022)
Salem Hilmi and Jad Isaac, ‘Keynote Paper: Water Agreements between Israel and Palestine and the Region’s Water Argumentations between Policies, Anxieties and Sustainable Development’ (Green Wars Conference: Environment between Conflict and Cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa 2007)
Hilmi (n.10), 145
Israeli control of water resources is causing farmers to abandon their lands and look for alternative income, due to difficulties in growing products. These difficulties result in diminished food production, pushing around one third of Palestinians into food insecurity.
Furthermore, Israeli policies around agriculture and land use are responsible for a decrease in biodiversity: the use of pesticides, the push towards mono cropping and labour-intensive crops (such as strawberries, cucumbers, and tomatoes), and the introduction of non-native species are responsible for imbalances in the ecosystem. This damage to biodiversity is likely to disproportionality affect Palestinians, as their connection to traditional products is jeopardized, together with their intimate relation to land, which is characteristic of Palestinians.
Another practice which deeply influences Palestinians is that of tree uprooting, particularly in the case of olive trees. The next section will analyse this case, also highlighting how olive production can be interpreted as an act of resistance against environmental injustice and settler colonialism.
Olive tree production in OTP as resistance in the context of environmental injustice
Olive trees have historically been a symbol for Palestinian people: embodying their attachment to land. Olive trees are passed down for generations, therefore the act of growing and taking care of them also carries emotional relevance. The olive harvest season in October bears a socio-cultural meaning: families come together to harvest olives, remembering how their ancestors did the same in past centuries. Moreover, olive tree production represents a fundamental source of income for Palestinians: according to the UN, around half of the agricultural land in the West Bank and in Gaza is planted with olive trees. Olives contribute to more than 14% to the Palestinian economy, with around
Inès Abdel Razek-Faoder and Muna Dajani, “Land dispossession and its impact on agriculture sector and food sovereignty in Palestine: a new perspective on Land Day” (Novact – International Institute for Nonviolent Action 2013), 3
World Food Program, Palestine Country Brief March 2022 <https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000138902/download/?_ga=2.146814462.895834107.1652452986-941705813.1652452986> accessed 2 September 2022
Ibid; Hilmi (n.10), 146
Sansour and Tartir (n.6)
Miftah, Olive Trees – More Than Just a Tree in Palestine (2012)
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Olive harvest OCHA factsheet (2012), 1
80.000 families depending on it. The value of olive trees for Palestinians is therefore both economic and cultural.
Since the beginning of the occupation, olive production has also become a symbol of resistance. Palestinians have been using olive trees to strengthen their territorial claims, grounding them on the principle of Sumud, meaning steadfastness or steadfast perseverance. Sumud is a political strategy of resistance which emerged among Palestinians after the 1967 war and the consequent occupation, which is also represented by the continuous work Palestinians put in growing their olive trees.
However, settler violence and Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories are threatening the access to olive trees and the ability of Palestinians to keep cultivating them. In Area C of the West Bank, farmers need the approval of Israeli authorities to access restricted land and to take care of their olive trees. The legal-military system to obtain permits has been defined as arbitrary and “often incomprehensible”, every year thousands of farmers are denied permits to access olive groves for security reasons or because they do not meet the criteria, which are also not well defined and require farmers to prove their ownership of the land (which is often difficult or impossible since land is inherited from generation to generation). Settler attacks are also an attempt to avoid Palestinians from accessing their land: these types of assaults increased after the Second Intifada, and they usually happen with a lack of action from Israeli authorities.
Uprooting olive trees is a common practice exercised by both Israeli authorities and settlers. Due to alleged security reasons, Israeli Defense Forces have uprooted olive trees for the “construction of the separation barrier, to secure roads […] checkpoints, […] and security fences around Jewish
Ibid
Irus Braverman, “Uprooting Identities: The Regulation of Olive Trees in the Occupied West Bank” (2009) 23(2) PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 8
Nassar Jamal and Roger Heacock, “Intifada: Palestine at the Crossroads” (1990) 69 Foreign Affairs, 195
Miftah, Olive Trees – More Than Just a Tree in Palestine (2012); Braverman, 34
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Olive harvest OCHA factsheet (2012), 1
Marwan Darweish, ‘Olive trees: livelihoods and resistance’ in Alapslan Özerdem, and Rebecca Roberts (eds) Challenging Post-conflict Environments: Sustainable Agriculture (Routledge 2016), 177
The Seconda Intifa, also known as Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation which happened between 2000 and 2005.
settlements”. It has been estimated that since 1967, 800.000 olive trees have been uprooted in the OPT.
The difficulties and the violence faced by Palestinians in growing their own products, including olives, is proof of the environmental injustice they are subjected to. Their inability to access their own land and to grow their own products prevents Palestinians from exercising their right to a productive and sustainable environment, central to environmental justice. Moreover, deforestation caused by tree uprooting and burning is disproportionately affecting Palestinians in the OTP. The process of destroying olive and other fruit trees has been defined as “ecological genocide”, responsible for the creation of an ecological imbalance that deepens the effect of climate change in the region. This practice is also part of the structural violence of settler colonialism experienced by Palestinians, in the attempt to reshape their territory and expel them from their land. Despite the struggles Palestinian farmers experience, they keep fighting to cultivate their products and maintain the tradition of olive harvesting. Therefore, their resistance can be interpreted as an act of defiance against both the environmental injustice and the structural violence (under the form of settler colonialism) they are subjected to.
Amira Hass, ‘It’s Not the Olive Trees’ Haaretz (11 January 2006) <https://www.haaretz.com/1.5313890> accessed 10 September 2022
Visualizing Palestine, UPROOTED (2013) <https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/olive-harvest>
Hilmi (n.10), 140
Conclusion
As this paper has attempted to demonstrate, olive production and harvesting are not only a central element of the Palestinian culture and heritage, but also a form of resistance against settler colonialism and environmental injustice. Inhabitants of the OPT are subjected to a form of structural violence, namely settler colonialism, which is depriving them of access to their basic needs. Settler colonialism takes the form of environmental injustice, especially by reducing access to or polluting water used by Palestinians, jeopardizing their ability to produce food and cultivate their land, decreasing biodiversity in the OTP and uprooting or burning trees.
Palestinians are often prevented from entering their olive groves, while their trees are often uprooted or burnt by either the military or settlers. Despite this, Palestinians maintain their struggle in an act of everyday resistance against violence and occupation; they continue cultivating olives and participating in the harvest season.
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