Palestine/Israel: qui cultive la terre ?
In the Middle East, land - who owns it, who cultivates it, who controls it, who conquers it - is the heart of the conflict.
In the village of Wadi Foukin, surrounded by the Green Line and the Israeli settlement of Betar Illit, the second largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, Palestinian farmers are trying to save their last dunams (a unit of measurement of area) of land that the Israeli state is gradually taking over. The Israeli occupation hinders food production by limiting access to resources such as agricultural land and water. Palestinian farmers are forced to abandon their land to work on Israeli farms where wages are much higher. Farming is a true act of resistance for these farmers. This act is reminiscent of the Israeli pioneers who came to "make the desert bloom" and were forbidden to work the land in Europe for years. In Israel, the link to the land is being lost; fewer and fewer young people want to become farmers. The Hebrew state is currently lacking in new farmers and has to rely on a foreign workforce made up of Thais, Jordanians and Palestinians.
I want to show the diversity of this agricultural population by questioning their attachment to the land, which is imbued with religious, political and identity-related dimensions.
This work will explore both the loss of the link to the land in Israel and the resistance of Palestinian farmers to save it.
M. like six other Palestinian workers from the village of Wadi Fukin, went to Israel to work in a vineyard. All of them do not have official work permits. They have to avoid the checkpoints and get to their workplaces using small roads and Israeli public transportation once they cross the border. Wadi Fukin (Occupied west Bank), March 29, 2022.
On the bus to the Israeli vineyard just across the village of Wadi Fukin, where the workers come from. M. owns 15 square meters of land in Wadi Fukin, but it does not allow him to live. That's why he has been working for 10 years in the Israeli farm. March 29, 2022.
Motasem (right) with two other farm workers install the tarps that will protect the banana trees. He is Jordanian. He has been working as an agricultural worker in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz for three years. His wife and two children live in Jordan. He visits them every four-five months. Kibbutz Nahal Oz (Israel), November 29, 2021.
A Palestinian farm worker harvests aromatic herbs which will be sold in a store belonging to a relative of the farm's owner. Al-Auja (occupied West Bank), April 4, 2022.
Khaled's brother Saad, also a farmer, works on the farm with the help of an agricultural worker. Al-Auja (West Bank), April 4, 2022. Khaled's brother Saad, also a farmer, works on the farm with the help of an agricultural worker. Al-Auja (occupied West Bank), April 4, 2022.
A Palestinian agricultural worker on Khaled's farm is pollinating palm seeds. This method consists of diffusing the powdered pollen grains mixed with an inert medium (flour or talcum powder). Al-Auja (occupied West Bank), April 3, 2022.
Oumsami, 51, beekeeper and farmer, tends her hives located just a few meters from the separation wall.
Fahez, a Palestinian organic farmer, on his land next to the Separation Wall, built in 2002. His father was a farmer while he was working in a company. He decided to keep his father's land and take over from him. He lost 15 dunams of land with the construction of the Separation Wall. Tulkarem (Occupied West Bank), December 03, 2021.
Ghershom, a retired Israeli farmer, continues to help out on the kibbutz farm. He has just returned from a check-up in the milking parlour. Sa'ad Kibbutz, November 17, 2021.
The Israeli farm manager (left) organizes himself with two Israeli employees of the dairy farm on Kibbutz Sa'ad. Kibbutz Sa'ad (Israel), November 24, 2021.
Daniel, a retired farmer, in front of his house. Each house has a basement shelter. Kibbutz Nahal Oz, November 22, 2021.
Mata (Israel), March 29, 2022.
The manager of Kibbutz Nahal Oz (left) and the team of Israeli farmers have coffee before the work day. In this kibbutz live 500 inhabitants and less and less young people want to become farmers.
Children playing soccer in the village of Wadi Fukin, with a view of Beitar Illit, the second largest illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank, in the background. March 27, 2022, Wadi Fukin (occupied West Bank).
View of the fields in the Jordan Valley with a shelter for farmers on which hangs a Palestinian flag. In this place, they can store materials and change clothes.
Kibbutz Sa'ad, November 30, 2021. Portrait of Gershom, 77, dairy farmer on Kibbutz Sa'ad. He is originally from New York. "I've been a dairy farmer for about 50 years now. It's still a challenging job, combining scientific knowledge with working with our beautiful cows, as we produce more and better quali
"For me, the soil is the link with nature. I chose to live in a village, away from the noise and pollution of the city. I feel good here and so does my family," says Daniel, 67, a recently retired farmer who continues to work as an irrigation manager on the Nahal Oz kibbutz. He was a member of the Peace Now movement and considers himself a peace activist. For him, living here is a political act. Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, 24 November 2021.
"For the people I never forget. One cannot live happily without remembering them," writes Fahima, one of the last female herders in the Wadi Fukin valley. Wadi Fukin, occupied West Bank, 28 March 2022.
"Earth means life. There is no life without land. Here, in Palestine. The occupation steals the land. Stop stealing our lives. We refuse to die silently", writes Fahez, a palestinian worker in Tulkarem (Occupied West Bank).