Economic Settlement: An Israeli Plan Devouring the West Bank's Food Basket and Redrawing its Geography

Israeli steps are accelerating to redefine vast areas of occupied West Bank land under the guise of 'state land,' a path that goes beyond the traditional legal dimension to reshape the economic and agricultural geography of the region. This systematic seizure does not only affect the land as a physical space but extends to strike at the Palestinian food basket and rural livelihoods on which thousands of families depend.

Recent decisions target vital agricultural lands that form the backbone of Palestinian food security, coming at a time when the agricultural sector is reeling under repeated attacks, including bulldozing, sabotage, and prevention of access to fields. These practices multiply economic losses and undermine the productive capacity of the Palestinian farmer in the face of settlement expansion, which has turned into a tool of financial and livelihood pressure.

According to official data, settlement expansion has transformed from mere urban sprawl into an economic strategy that reshapes the West Bank's infrastructure. Responsible sources have monitored a significant escalation in attacks on water sources and uprooting of trees. In the first week of February alone, approximately 777 olive trees were uprooted, causing material losses exceeding $600,000, concentrated in the Hebron and Nablus governorates.

This escalation is classified in Palestinian circles as 'economic settlement' proceeding at a faster pace than residential construction, as agricultural areas available to Palestinians are shrinking, especially in areas classified as 'C'. These areas, which constitute about 60% of the West Bank's area, have become the scene for the establishment of dozens of new pastoral outposts and settlement farms that are devouring pastures and fertile fields.

Recent confiscations have focused on the northern and central Jordan Valley areas, in addition to the vicinity of Salfit, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and southern Hebron governorates. Estimates indicate the loss of thousands of dunams of highly productive irrigated land, threatening the sustainability of the agricultural sector, which is one of the pillars of Palestinian steadfastness in the face of occupation.

The economic impact of these policies is evident in the decline of the agricultural sector's contribution to the GDP, where the percentage decreased from 7% to only about 5%. Technical reports also documented direct losses amounting to $103 million during the past year, in addition to the profound repercussions on supply chains and income in rural and marginalized areas.

In a related context, field reports revealed the classification of more than 26,000 dunams as 'state land' in preparation for the complete seizure of Palestinian control over them, in parallel with plans to legalize 140 settlement farms. These moves come amid escalating settler attacks, especially in the Masafer Yatta and Hebron governorate areas, to provide legal cover for land control operations.

Economist Dr. Thabet Abu Al-Roos believes that expanding the definition of 'state land' represents a legal cover for the Israeli side to impose facts on the ground without regard for international legitimacy. He explained that this path is not new but an extension of policies that began decades ago aimed at isolating Palestinians in narrow enclaves and depriving them of their natural and economic resources.

Abu Al-Roos warned that this economic aggression aims to exhaust the Palestinian productive base and weaken its ability to resist, linking what is happening in the West Bank to the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip as an integrated policy to destroy livestock and agriculture. This systematic destruction will necessarily lead to rising prices of basic goods and an exacerbation of unemployment rates among workers in this sector.

The economist also predicted an increased dependence of the Palestinian market on the Israeli economy due to the contraction of local production and the necessity for traders to turn to Israeli sources to cover the deficit. These developments intersect with major settlement projects such as the 'E1' project, which aims to separate the north of the West Bank from its south, thereby entrenching a geographical reality that prevents the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian entity.

What is happening is a systematic economic aggression targeting the structure of the Palestinian economy to exhaust the productive base and weaken the ability to resist.