By: Jibreel Mohamad

https://www.maan-ctr.org/magazine/article/4545/

Massive Expansion of Israeli Agricultural Settlement in the West Bank (Peace Now)

Exclusive to Environment and Development Horizons (Afaq magazine):

Land is the central target of settlement

The foundations of a settler-colonial state rest on three pillars: the seizure and control of land, the implantation of settler immigrants, and the protection of the settlement project.
Without immigrants, settlement is impossible. Without protecting both the settlers and the seized land, it cannot be sustained. For this reason, Zionism deliberately intertwined these three elements, land seizure, settler implantation, and military protection, transforming agricultural kibbutzim into a reservoir of soldiers, officers, and military leadership.

The targeting of land has never ceased since the beginning of Zionist settlement, whether through purchase, grants by the British Mandate authorities, or through various facilitations offered by the British government to the Zionist movement to seize state-owned (miri) lands. It also continued through direct military occupation and land seizure that followed the 1948 Nakba, including the performing of the Absentee Property Law, which legalized the takeover of all properties belonging to refugees displaced by the war. Zionism’s deeply rooted colonial drive has continually fed its hunger for land, often through warfare, territorial expansion, and the statement of control, enabling settlers to freely steal land, threaten residents, and push them to leave.

Agricultural and Pastoral Settlements Fill the Gap

Given the limited number of Jews worldwide, and the declining appeal of migration from Europe and America to a region engulfed in ongoing wars, it became necessary to shift the form of settlement, or to add new forms. Expanding existing settlements became sufficient to meet housing needs for the natural population growth within the settlements, which have turned the West Bank into a fragmented landscape. Now, settlement planning must explore other options to satisfy its relentless appetite for seizing Palestinian land.

This old-new pattern of settlement has emerged as a means of compensating for the lack of human resources required to cover the vast areas targeted for settlement. Agricultural and pastoral settlement has become the chosen solution, backed by a fascist, biblically driven government eager to expand settlements by targeting lands classified as “Area C,” seizing areas declared by the government as “state land,” and designating other lands as nature reserves in service of annexation plans. This strategy has caused serious harm to the Palestinian agriculture and livestock sectors.
This is happening in the south of Hebron, in Masafer Yatta area and the lands of Al-Dhahiriya, as well as on the slopes overlooking the Jordan Valley, such as the Ma'arajat area between Jericho and Ramallah. It is accompanied by the uprooting of fruit-bearing trees, the prevention of Palestinians from accessing their cultivated lands or grazing areas, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and public facilities in those regions.

For his part, Amir Daoud, Director General of Publishing and Documentation at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, considered the “agricultural and pastoral outposts” to be among the most prominent features of the settlement project aimed at annexing more Palestinian land. This is carried out by armed settler shepherds operating under the protection of the Israeli army, with the goal of connecting settlements through control over vast areas of land, isolating Palestinian towns from one another, cutting residents off from natural resources, displacing Palestinians, undermining Palestinian demographics, and creating new settlement enclaves.

Unofficial Work with Official Cover

Pastoral and agricultural settlement follows two paths. The first is official, legitimizing land seizure under various pretexts-though the occupation government no longer even needs such pretexts, as it now openly leads the process, presenting it as one of the achievements toward completing control over the “Land of Israel.” The second path is unofficial, carried out by settler groups whose activities are supported by the government with special allocated budgets.

The Expansion of Pastoral Outposts in Figures

According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, there are 89 pastoral outposts spread over an estimated area of 208,000 dunums. In addition, there are 6 mixed outposts that combine housing, agriculture, and herding.

The first agricultural outpost was established in 1984 on land belonging to residents of Hebron Governorate. It grew to house 850 settlers. From then until 2012, the number of outposts steadily increased, reaching a total of 18 outposts distributed across privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The commission indicated that there has been a significant and unprecedented acceleration in the establishment of agricultural and pastoral outposts since 2012. Hebron Governorate recorded the highest number of agricultural outposts, currently totaling 22, followed by 21 in Ramallah Governorate. Nablus ranked third with 14 outposts, in addition to 9 in Tubas, 8 in Bethlehem, 6 in Salfit, 4 in Jericho and Jenin, and one outpost in Tulkarm.

The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture noted that the grazing areas in the West Bank cover 2.2 million dunums, accounting for about 30% of the West Bank’s area. These areas are concentrated on the eastern slopes between the Jordan Valley and the western mountains, with more than 90% of this land classified as Area C.

There is a rapid pace of agricultural and pastoral settlement, with more than a quarter of a million dunums of these lands having been seized. This confirms that the agricultural and pastoral outposts are concentrated on the eastern slopes of the West Bank and are linked to settlements to protect them.

The spread of pastoral outposts has disrupted the natural balance across various areas of the West Bank, leading to the deterioration of vegetation cover and desertification in most of the controlled lands.

Food security and agricultural production have also been affected, which has had a significant impact on the Palestinian national income. The exploitation of agricultural lands in Area C could have generated annual revenue for the Palestinian Authority of no less than 3 billion dollars per year.

The Occupation Government’s Role in Funding Settlements

After October 7, 2023, and in February 2024, the Israeli government decided to continue funding pastoral and agricultural outposts as a tool to control more land.

Previously, on November 19, 2021, the Bennett-Lapid government allocated 20 million shekels annually for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024 to "support volunteer groups working in rural communities engaged in significant agricultural activity in areas of national priority."

The budget for the pastoral and agricultural settlement outposts was revised on February 4, 2024, due to financial cuts necessitated by the war; the budget was transferred from the Ministry of the Negev and Galilee to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Nevertheless, despite wide budget cuts, there is agreement that supporting illegal settlement outposts remains a top priority for the government.

Translated by: Rasha Abu Dayyeh