Israeli agritech profits from military occupation


Palestinian workers pick onions in Tomer settlement in the Jordan Valley, January 2015

Maureen Clare Murphy writes in The Electronic Intifada:

Israeli agritech companies “are deeply complicit in the occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land,” according to a new report by the corporate watchdog Who Profits.

Technology developed in the context of the occupation is used by Israel’s seemingly benign precision agriculture industry. This civilian application allows Israeli military companies to promote “a sanitized version of their repressive technologies” as tools to combat climate change and world hunger.

Israeli agritech companies “develop and market smart irrigation systems, crop protection solutions and specialty fertilizers to farmers across the world, raking in billions of dollars in annual sales, while enjoying a positive ‘green’ image,” Who Profits states. This industry contributes to agriculture in West Bank and Golan settlements, as well as the de-development of the Palestinian economy.

The Jordan Valley, the main agricultural region in the West Bank, is under full Israeli military control.  Israel transferred ownership of lands seized in the Jordan Valley to the World Zionist Organization during the 1980s. The organization leases the land to settlers for agricultural production.  Produce from Jordan Valley settlements, such as pomegranates, almonds, dates and olives, are exported to Europe, often mislabeled as “Product of Israel.”

The World Bank conservatively estimated the value of settlement agricultural production in the Jordan Valley to be $251 million in 2013.  That same year, the World Bank estimated that agricultural cultivation of West Bank land currently under full Israeli military control would deliver an additional $700 million per year to the Palestinian economy.

Palestinians are prevented from cultivating their land and are deprived of income, forcing many to “seek employment in settlement agriculture, often under deeply exploitative conditions,” Who Profits notes.

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