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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://mondoweiss.net/2026/08/destroying-agriculture-is-the-purpose-how-israel-is-drying-up-the-west-banks-most-fertile-farmlands/?ml_recipient=196140865462208009&ml_link=196140823819060760&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-08-18&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation+-+8am">mondoweiss.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">\u2018Destroying agriculture is the purpose\u2019: How Israel is drying up the West Bank\u2019s most fertile farmlands</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Qassam Muaddi</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">August 17, 2026</div>
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<img src="cid:ii_msys1e3b0" alt="image.png" width="450" height="300"><br><p>
<font size="1">Israeli military vehicles on Palestinian agricultural land in the Jordan
valley, near the West Bank town of Tubas, May 6, 2015. (Photo: Shadi
Hatem/APA Images)</font> </p><p>Agriculture in the northern West Bank could be on the verge of
disappearing under the weight of Israeli land confiscation and the
destruction of water wells. The Atouf area, in the Tubas governorate in
the northeastern West Bank, and long known as the region\u2019s
\u201cbreadbasket,\u201d has been targeted by settler attacks on its water lines.
The settler raids complement the Israeli army\u2019s ongoing infrastructure
projects in the area, which have plowed through Palestinian farmlands
and demolished wells.</p>
<p>For four months, thousands of Palestinian farmers in the Atouf plain
have been unable to access water for their crops after settlers began
attacking and damaging water lines, according to local residents. In
recent weeks, the Israeli army has bulldozed farmland in Atouf as part
of a military road project, further damaging water lines in the process.
The army has also issued demolition orders for wells on the plain and
has already demolished several.</p>
<p>The northern West Bank has been at the center of Israeli military
orders and settler activity in recent months after the Israeli
government allowed settlers to return to sites where four Israeli
settlements had been evacuated in 2005. In a first since the Second
Intifada, the Israeli army took over a neighborhood in the city of Jenin
for military purposes inside Area A, which is the part of the West Bank
that is supposedly under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Palestinian
Authority (PA). </p>
<p>Tubas has also seen its share of Israeli raids and settlement
expansion, particularly given its strategic location overlooking the
northern Jordan Valley. But the destruction of water sources on Tubas\u2019s
farmland carries deeper implications for Palestinian life in the area
and across the West Bank, reaching beyond the issue of Palestinian
geographic continuity and land ownership.</p>
<p>The plain of Atouf is shared between the villages of Atouf and Ras
al-Ahmar, both extensions of Tammoun, the administrative center of
eastern Tubas. Together, Tammoun, Atouf, and Ras al-Ahmar hold more than
85,000 dunams (8,500 hectares) of farmland, parts of which the Israeli
government has confiscated over the years of occupation. As of early
this year, some 30,000 dunams of land in Tammoun and its eastern
villages were still being farmed by Palestinians, with hundreds of
families depending on agriculture in the region.</p>
<p>Sameer Bisharat, former mayor of Tubas, told <em>Mondoweiss</em> that
\u201c70 to 80 percent of people in Tammoun and its surroundings depend
partially or entirely on farming for their living, especially after
Israel revoked working permits.\u201d </p>
<p>\u201cIsraeli settlers from the surrounding outposts have been coming and
damaging the water lines, emboldened by the fact that the Israeli army
had begun building a military road across the plain last year,\u201d Bisharat
explained.</p>
<p>Palestinians in Tammoun tried several times to fix the damaged lines,
but the Israeli army kept ordering workers to leave the area, Bisharat
said. Then, over the past two weeks, the Israeli army began distributing
demolition orders for water wells that farmers depend on for
irrigation. Last week, it began demolishing several wells in the Atouf
plain.</p>
<h2>\u2018There is no tomorrow for me\u2019</h2>
<p>Durgham Muhammad, a full-time farmer in Atouf, owns 400 dunams (40
hectares) of farmland in the Atouf plain, including greenhouses, fields
growing several crops, and a water well. </p>
<p>\u201cI produce seasonal crops like wheat, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, and various fruits,\u201d he told <em>Mondoweiss</em>.
\u201cLike most farmers here, I sell them to vendors in the vegetable
markets of Nablus, Beita, and Qabatia. I hire 30 farmers to help me, and
their families depend on this land for their income.\u201d </p>
<p>Muhammad used to irrigate his farm from his own well, with enough
left over to sell to other farmers in the plain. But last week, he
received a demolition order for the well. </p>
<p>\u201cFor the past four months, our work has practically stopped, and we
are barely figuring out how to survive financially,\u201d Muhammad noted.
Although it has yet to be demolished, he cannot make use of the water
well. </p>
<p>\u201cWhat we are trying to do currently is get as much water as we can
from the pipes to irrigate some of the crops and save as much of our
produce as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe most difficult part is that even
this is temporary, because the military road is going to make all 400 of
my dunams inaccessible, which means I will lose my only source of
income, and I have no other profession.\u201d </p>
<p>\u201cWhen I think about it, I realize there is no tomorrow for me, and I
can do nothing about it,\u201d he added. \u201cIt drives me to the brink of
madness.\u201d</p>
<p>For Khalil Tafakji, a Palestinian geographer and expert on Israeli
settlements, the Israeli takeover of the Atouf plain and eastern Tubas
is unique because it doesn\u2019t correspond to any previous settlement
expansion plans. </p>
<p>\u201cI studied the military road project, which also includes a military fence, based on the maps,\u201d he told <em>Mondoweiss</em>.
\u201cIt crosses the northern West Bank from east of Tammoun and Tubas,
through east of Qabatiya and Jenin, and ends at the northernmost point
of the Green Line in the West Bank, several kilometers west of the Allon
Road, which has long marked Israel\u2019s plan to annex the Jordan Valley.\u201d</p>
<p>What this means, Tafakji says, is that the project \u201cdoesn\u2019t serve any
current settlement expansion purpose,\u201d and is \u201c purely military.\u201d
Unlike other cases, he added, \u201cthe destruction of water sources and
agriculture in the area doesn\u2019t have an obvious Israeli objective.\u201d</p>
<p>\u201cI can\u2019t help but believe that in this case, at least, the
destruction of the agricultural economy in the West Bank is itself the
Israeli purpose,\u201d Tafakji explained.</p>
<p>Israel has confiscated at least 52,000 dunams (approximately 5,200
hectares) of land in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023,
according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance
Commission.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Qassam Muaddi<br></strong>Qassam Muaddi is the Palestine Staff Writer for <em>Mondoweiss</em>. Follow him on Twitter/X at <a href="https://twitter.com/QassaMMuaddi">@QassaMMuaddi</a>.</p>
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