Land destruction and spoilage of crops with toxic pesticides ... Israeli policy of displacing farmers

Raed Musa - Gaza

Palestinian farmers lost about 600 dunums of their agricultural lands near the security fence in the eastern Gaza Strip after the Israeli occupation authorities opened dams that flooded with rain water, in addition to spraying toxic and incendiary chemical pesticides.

Abdel Karim Habib, one of the affected farmers, where dams water was destroyed and sprayed with pesticides 23 donums owned by the East Shujaiya neighborhood, adjacent to the security fence east of Gaza City.

"At the moment I lost everything, 10 dunums planted with cabbage, flower, turnip, beans, wheat, barley and onions, and 13 other dunums were ready for cultivation and currently need a complete rehabilitation," Habib told Al Jazeera Net.

A few days ago, farmers woke up to a real catastrophe for their crops of vegetables and grains as a result of soil erosion caused by the water flowing from the Israeli dams behind the security fence, before the chemical pesticides that Israeli planes sprayed on the remainder of these crops.

By destroying his farmland, about 700 meters from the security fence, the farmer Habib lost his only source of livelihood from ten people.

"What is our fault for Israel assassinating our livelihood and poisoning our agricultural crops?" Asked Habib, in a sharp tone of anger and grief.

Intentional violations
Habib refuted the Israeli allegations, and emphasized that the occupation authorities intentionally destroy lands and burn crops, as they test the direction of the wind before spraying toxic pesticides to ensure that these pesticides will get from the largest area of ​​agricultural land.

According to farmers and non-governmental organizations specialized in agricultural affairs in Gaza, the pesticides covered agricultural lands about a kilometer from the security fence, and damaged agricultural crops, livestock and beekeeping farms.

At the beginning of each year, Israel sprinkled chemical pesticides along the security fence, which extends about 40 km east of the Strip, for security reasons, in an effort to prevent the growth of plants and herbs along a length that limits its ability to monitor the security buffer zone imposed by it more than 300 meters from the fence.

But the technical coordinator in agricultural relief, Engineer Magdi Dabour, confirmed the lies of the Israeli allegations, and told Al-Jazeera Net that "the farmers are aware of the danger of the border area and only grow paper crops that are not more than 60 centimeters in length, while Israel prevents the cultivation of trees and the establishment of greenhouses and buildings for a distance ranging 500 and 1500 meters from the fence. "

He stressed that Israel understands that opening dams, dumping lands with water and spraying chemical pesticides are all matters that seriously harm farmers, and it is concerned with that to empty the region of them.

The advocacy and media coordinator for agricultural relief, Noha al-Sharif, agreed with Dabur, and confirmed that what is practiced by Israel amounts to "forced displacement of farmers."

Al-Sharif told Al-Jazeera Net that "the occupation prevents us, as civil organizations, from establishing agricultural infrastructure that serves farmers, and prevents a lot of materials and equipment, including preventing the natural flow of rainwater and impeding it in its dams, which it only opens when it overflows to flood our lands and protect its farmers."

Incendiary and carcinogenic pesticides
Regarding the pesticide spraying mechanisms and their quality, Eng. Dabour pointed out that the occupation ignites - suddenly and without prior warning - a fire in the early morning emitting black smoke to know the direction of the wind to ensure that it is western towards Gaza, and then private aircraft carry out pesticide spraying operations.

He said that the occupation carries out these operations twice a year, the first in early January and the second in April, that is, that it deliberately sprayed pesticides with the beginning of planting winter and summer crops, and this incurred heavy losses to farmers.

Dabour emphasized that these pesticides are "incendiary and carcinogenic," and according to an analysis conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture last year, it was established that one of its compounds is "Dqlovas", which is a slowly decomposing herbicide, a toxic substance that burns herbs and plants and harms humans.

Al-Sharif said that pesticides infect farmers with burns if exposed to them directly, in addition to burning crops, which are fatal to livestock, birds and beekeeping farms, where about 22 thousand cells are spread along the security fence.

She added that about 70% of the animal wealth is found in the areas of spraying pesticides, which poses a great danger to humans if they consume meat for animals that inhale these toxic pesticides.

According to the Al-Mizan Center for Human Rights in Gaza (a non-governmental organization), Israel has started pesticide spraying operations since 2014, and since then it has covered approximately 7 million and 620,000 square meters of agricultural land in the small coastal strip.

Serious damage
Samir Zaqout, Deputy Director of Al-Mizan Center for Al-Jazeera Net, confirmed that spraying operations destroy people and the environment, and they are prohibited according to Israeli and international law, and there is no legal justification or basis for continuing these activities that affect human rights and endanger the lives and property of citizens in the Gaza Strip.

The London-based research agency "Forseec Arcticher" (Forensic Evidence Structure) published last July a report providing an analysis of pesticide spraying operations carried out by Israel from 2014 to 2018, and confirmed that it had caused severe damage to Palestinian fields and crops.

The occupation authorities revealed in 2016 that the materials used in aerial spraying are "glyphosate, oxygenated, and durex", and according to Zaqqout, at least one of these materials is classified as carcinogenic, pointing out that the World Health Organization's Cancer Research Agency classified in 2015 Glyphosate is among the carcinogens and may cause birth defects, so some of these compounds are banned in a number of countries around the world.