The district of Qalqiliya lies in the northwest part of the West Bank, bordered in the west by the 1948 Armistice Line with Israel; see map1 . Most of the district lies within a fertile soil zone and agriculture represents a large percentage of its economy. It also has a higher population density than many other West Bank districts.  These characteristics are a result of the western groundwater basin, which underlies the district.  This groundwater basin is shared between the Palestinians and the Israelis.  However, the vast majority of its capacity is used by the Israelis, both in Israel and in the Jewish settlements  in the West Bank.  Palestinian water consumption accounts for only about 6% of the total amount of water used from the western groundwater basin.

 The fertility of this area and its abundant water resources make it highly desirable to the Israelis in Final Status negotiations.  Israel also claims security interests.  The western edge of the Qalqiliya district is only about 13 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast of Israel.  The Israeli government claims this strip of land is too narrow and threatens the state with being split in two in a time of war.  In May 2000 the Israeli government presented how they foresee the future of the West Bank in a Final Status map.  By superimposing the Qalqiliya district border on the map it is evident that such a plan would absorb almost the entire district into Israel; see map 2.

 Other developments affirm Israel's interest in annexing the area; click for more.  The western edge of the West Bank has long been one of the main areas of Jewish settlement construction.  This strategy alters the demography in such a way as to make it more and more difficult to return this land to the Palestinians when the Final Status borders are drawn.  Another clue to Israel's plans for the future of the area is highway #6, build right along the edge of the 1949 Armistice Line, and at a lower elevation than the land immediately on the West Bank side of the border; see map 1.  It seems doubtful that the Israeli government, with its high concern with security, would build a main highway and leave it permanently in such a vulnerable spot along the border of a future Palestinian state. 

 The day-to-day methods that the Israeli occupation uses to work toward these long-term plans in Qalqiliya are the same they use throughout the West Bank and Gaza, including land confiscation , destruction of personal property, restriction of movement, and daily harassment.  The effect of the occupation is the strangulation of Palestinian communities.  Nowhere is this more evident that in the agricultural sector of the Palestinian economy, particularly since the beginning of the Al Aqsa intifada.  The Qalqiliya district is heavily dependent on agriculture and its farmers have been hit hard by the occupation in recent months, as shown in the following tables.

Direct Losses to Agriculture in Qalqiliya District ... October 2000-January â??2001

Direct losses to Palestinian agriculture include the confiscation and destruction of private property, including greenhouses, nurseries, farm equipment, irrigation systems, orchards, and field crops; see photo1.  Both the Israeli Civil Administration (military government) and the Israeli settlers carry out these acts of destruction on a regular basis.  For a complete list of the direct damage done to Palestinian farmers see Table 1.

Table 1: Direct Agricultural Losses in Qalqiliya District
October 2000 - January 2001

Total worth of direct losses to farmers in Qalqiliya district from October, 2000 to January 2001:  $1,609,405

Indirect Losses to Agriculture in Qalqiliya District ... October 2000-January â??2001

Indirect Losses in Palestinian agriculture include a number of factors, most of them caused by the closure policy of the occupation.  The Israeli military government has set up a network of checkpoints and roadblocks on Palestinian roads, severely limiting their freedom of movement; click for more.  For farmers this means that they are either extremely limited or completely prohibited in their ability to transport their crops to the markets, whether in neighboring countries or within the West Bank and Gaza.  Therefore they sometimes must sell their goods locally at a reduced price.  When they do attempt to transport their goods to market they are often forced to take dangerous back roads that extend the length of their journey and damage their produce and vehicles.  On top of these costs, the price of feed for animals has risen.  In addition, they are at times unable to work their land either because they cannot reach it or because they fear being shot by settlers.  The following tables record the financial costs of this damage in the Qalqiliya district from October 2000 to January 2001.

Table 2: Indirect Losses in Plant Production

Table 3: Indirect Losses in Animal Production

Table 4: Other Indirect Losses

Total worth of indirect losses to farmers in Qalqiliya district from October, 2000 to January 20001:  $9,614,114

Table 5: Total Direct and Indirect Losses to Agriculture in Qalqiliya 
October 2000 - January 2001

These figures represent an enormous loss to the Palestinian farmers and to the overall economy in the Qalqiliya district as a result of the tightening of the closure on the West Bank and Gaza since the beginning of the Al Aqsa intifada.  Since the beginning of the peace process the Palestinian economy has experienced a downward spiral as a result of military occupation and the strangulation of their communities.  This has undercut confidence in the Israeli government as a legitimate partner for peace, and indeed in the peace process itself.  The impoverishment of the Palestinian people does not provide a solid basis for the security of either the Israelis or the Palestinians and must stop if peace negotiations are to succeed in a just settlement.

For more on the impacts of the occupation on the agricultural sector see the following case studies:

An Assessment of Recent Israeli Practice on the Palestinian Agricultural Sector #1 

An Assessment of Recent Israeli Practice on the Palestinian Agricultural Sector #2

*Thanks to the Qalqiliya Department of Agriculture for the above figures.

Prepared by The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem
ARIJ