Gaza strip – Samaher Abu Jameh is angry.
The mother of two has worked as a farmer with her parents since childhood in the southern Gaza town of Abasan al-Kabira, near the border with Israel. “My land has olive trees and greenhouses planted with tomatoes and livestock,” she says.
She can no longer take care of these trees or these tomatoes: this 40-year-old woman was displaced with her family and lives in a school run by the United Nations in the center of Khan Younis due to the almost continuous Israeli bombardments since on October 7.
“I have no idea what condition they are in. I just want to go back to my land to see what has become of it,” she says.
It’s a sentiment shared by Gaza’s farmers.
The months of October and November, when olives are harvested, hold particular significance for Palestinians, who view the harvest as a national occasion celebrating their relationship and connection to the land.
Farmers pick olives with their extended family and friends. Folk songs create a festive atmosphere. Meals are cooked and eaten under the trees. The olives are then pressed to extract olive oil, the quality of which depends on the climate and soil.
But with Israel’s latest war on Gaza, which began on October 7 after Hamas attacks in southern Israel, farmers have been forced to leave their lands and homes, and the ever-present risks they already faced due to their proximity to the border with Israel has multiplied dramatically.
Samaher says some farmers tried to return to their land but were targeted by Israeli warplanes.
“We are experiencing great suffering as farmers because these wars are costing us dearly,” she says. “We barely had time to catch our breath after the war of 2021 before it started. »
Dangerous agriculture
Even before the war, the olive picking season was increasingly marred by violence. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers have been documented attacking Palestinians on their land, stealing their olives and burning their groves. Bilal Saleh, a Palestinian olive farmer, was shot dead by a settler in October while harvesting his crop near Nablus.
In the Gaza Strip, the challenges come from the Israeli military, which either targets and bombs farmland in wartime or sprays it with pesticides, killing crops and making the land unsuitable for agriculture.
Near the southern city of Khan Younis, agricultural land covers an area of over 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) and extends east of the city around towns near the Israeli border fence: Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira, Abasan al-Jadida. and Bani Suhaila. There are 7,000 farms in Khan Younis governorate, according to the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Ahmed Abu Rjeila, 40, is used to dodging bullets. “I used to go to my land in Abasan al-Jadida with my three brothers despite the dangers we faced every day because of the Israeli occupation, which was shooting at us to be able to leave,” says he.
Now the risk is too high – even if the prospect of losing his harvest worries him. He and his family were displaced from their home at the start of the war and are staying at one of the United Nations schools in Khan Younis.
“I have hundreds of olive trees and my family and friends were supposed to pick them and sell them at the market or press them in olive mills,” he says. He also grows seasonal crops in greenhouses. “I have spent thousands of shekels on this season, and my investment will have no return if this war continues and my access to my land is denied. »
Anger and grief over crop loss
Continued shelling east of Khan Younis has resulted in the deaths of nearly 20 farmers and injuries, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Over the past week, the Israeli army opened tank fire towards agricultural lands east of the town of al-Fukhari, where farmers were trying to access their land to collect their crops and sell them in the markets.
Ahmed Qudeih, 37, is from Khuza’a town and owns 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres) of land. He claims that all the farmers were forced to leave their homes and are now housed in different areas of downtown Khan Younis.
“We are heartbroken because of our crops, which we cannot reach,” he said. “We cannot irrigate, nor observe our land, nor take care of it. After each devastating war, we pay thousands of shekels to ensure the quality of our crops and make our soil suitable for agriculture again. »
Being a farmer on a normal day in Gaza can be a life-threatening vocation, he says, adding that Israeli forces have been “creative in destroying agricultural businesses” with human, material and economic losses. .
“Over the past few years, the land I cultivate has been subjected to various types of violations by Israeli soldiers,” he says. “I was exposed to gunfire several times. The army also bulldozed land and sprayed crops with pesticides to destroy them.
“This has caused me huge financial losses, but after each round of destruction, I return to prepare the land for cultivation again. »
Season over for olive oil production
Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture determined that the area of land planted with olive trees in the Gaza Strip was approximately 4,400 hectares (10,800 acres) and estimated that they could produce 35,000 tonnes olives.
A small portion, about 9 percent (9,000 to 10,000 tons), is pickled in homes or factories, but the majority is sent to olive mill presses to turn it into oil. There are about 40 olive oil extraction presses, of which 32 are equipped with modern automatic equipment, six are semi-automatic and two are operated manually on ancient stone mills.
Fayyad Fayyad, director of the Palestinian Olive Council, says the average annual olive production season in Palestine is estimated at 100,000 tonnes, yielding up to 20,000 tonnes of olive oil.
“This year the olive season is called ‘sheltoni’, which means that the olive harvest is small and scarce,” he says. “For olive trees it is usual to have one year with a large harvest and the following year with a smaller harvest.
“Last year, the campaign was abundant and saw the production of 36,000 tonnes in the Gaza Strip. Without the war, this campaign would have produced 10,000 tonnes of olives, the equivalent of 2,000 tonnes of olive oil.
Many farmers have resigned themselves to the fact that this harvest season is over, saying neither their homes nor their land remains intact.
Yet farmers are clear that they will regenerate their land after every war, even if it is as devastating as the current offensive, which has so far killed more than 10,000 Palestinians.
“Our hearts burn because of our land,” says Nisreen Abu Daqqa of Khuza’a. “We wait all year for the olive season, which is the best season, but the Israelis deliberately burned our trees with their missiles and tank shells. »