Challenges facing Palestinian date farmers: Caabu briefing with Zaytoun

On 21 June, Zaytoun and Caabu hosted a briefing on the situation of Palestinian farmers, with Mamoun Derra, Chair of the Palm Farmers’ Cooperative in the Occupied Territories. Mamoun is one of the farmers supported by Zaytoun. The cooperative which he oversees supports 120 members, including farmers and packing houses, of the date sector in the Jordan Valley.

Life for farmers in the Occupied Territories is particularly hard, especially in the Jordan Valley area, which makes up 30% of the West Bank. The land used by farmers of the delicious Medjoul date falls mostly in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli control. In this area, farmers face constant challenges from the Israeli authorities and from illegal Israeli settlers, who jointly deprive Palestinians like Mamoun of access to their own lands and resources, especially water.

Israeli restrictions on land hinders any chance of economic growth for the Palestinian agricultural sector, which currently forms the basis of Palestine’s economy. Caabu’s director, Chris Doyle, highlighted in his introduction to the briefing that if the Palestinians had access to 50,000 dunums (12,500 acres) more of their own land they would have a $1Bn dollar boost to their economy. As it stands, the stress on the economy is acute.

On a daily basis, the most pressing of the problems Mamoun faces is the restricted access to water. The Jordan river, has diminished to a saline trickle trickle, is inaccessible to Palestinians. In a profound juxtaposition, Israelis in illegal settlements have water pumped into their homes and gardens, passing right through Palestinian communities yet forbidden to them. The Palestinians themselves instead must buy water from tankers from Mekorot, the national water company of Israel, at inflated prices. In fact, recently the Israeli government has admitted to cutting the water supply to areas of the West Bank. This puts great strain on Palestinian palm farmers like Mamoun who fears that water will run out in the next 10 to 15 years. Many Bedouin communities have been evicted from their homes and are unable to continue herding their livestock. Faced with a lack of resources, Mamoun and his fellow farmers must be ever more resourceful themselves. To such an end they have dug their own wells to irrigate their farms, refusing to be deterred by Israeli pressure. However, wells dug without Israeli permission can be closed without notice by the Israeli military.

In addition to the water restrictions, the political divisions and military presence in the West Bank make exporting Palestinian dates another challenge. With checkpoints and continual hindrances, the journey from farm to port takes two days instead of two hours. The authorities also force Mamoun to transfer his dates at a checkpoint from one freezer to another. Since dates should be transported at a constant-18°C, this not only increases costs but also puts the quality of the product at risk.

This in turn makes the finished product more expensive for the consumer. Illegal Israeli settlers, who do not have to confront any of these challenges, can sell their dates at cut prices. Thanks to international pressure, those Israeli settlers can no longer brand dates as product of Israel but they get round this by sending their dates for repackaging elsewhere to hide their illegal provenance. Legislation regarding the labelling of products from Israeli settlements remains voluntary in the UK which makes it is hard for consumers to check whether their dates have been sourced from settlements. Mamoun could not be more serious about the need for international support with boycotting these settlement dates and taking care when buying dates in the supermarket. He stressed that whilst the BDS movement has proved effective, there are still many places that buy Israeli dates unaware of the injustice that has occurred in their production and used examples of dates being sold as ‘Product of the Holy Land’. Settler dates have also been misleadingly labelled in Arabic and the names of Palestinian families have been used in their marketing.

Despite all these hurdles, Mamoun’s resolve is striking and with pictures of his farm on the projector behind him, he describes his vision for 1 million palm trees to be planted to share his dates with the world. He always has a plan B, a plan C and a plan D for when his usual routes and methods are disrupted by the authorities. Currently Palestinian Medjoul dates are exported to 45 countries worldwide, a fact which brings a proud smile to Mamoun’s face. He also spoke of his pride at seeing his dates labelled as ‘Produce of Palestine’. Zaytoun’s market focus for Palestinian produce is the UK.

His mantra is “Never stop.” Mamoun and his friends will never leave their beloved farms by choice and certainly won’t be pressured out. For them, farming is a matter of existence not business. When asked whether he feared Israeli retribution, in particular in relation to boycotts, Mamoun said that fighting for his right to produce dates is a constant, and that any Israeli reprisals would be met with a strong front. The message is clear: with increased international support, they will stand strong and continue to produce their delicious dates.