For Palestinian farmers in the West Bank, land and livelihood are deeply intertwined concerns—and the only way to defend them is through organization. Faced with a hostile legal apparatus, a military occupation, and attacks from violent settlers, Palestinian farmers have banded together under the umbrella of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union. The union’s executive director, Abbas Milhem, joins The Marc Steiner Show for an explanation of the work of his organization and the land struggle in the West Bank.

Studio Production: Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Alina Nehlich

Transcript

The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Marc Steiner:

Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here in The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s great to have you all with us. And we continue looking at what came out of the movie Where Olive Trees Weep. Today, we’re going to talk with Abbas Milhem, who is the Palestinian Farmers Union Executive Director. He’s been so since 2014. We’ll talk a bit about what that means, and more about that, and what’s going on in the West Bank and Gaza with him today. Abbas, welcome. Good to have you with us.

Abbas Milhem:

Thank you Marc for having me. Good afternoon for everybody.

Marc Steiner:

I’ve been looking forward to this.

Abbas Milhem:

Or good morning maybe. It’s almost good afternoon in our language.

Marc Steiner:

Well, for you it’s good evening, right?

Abbas Milhem:

Yeah. In our side, good evening. But after evening, even.

Marc Steiner:

It’s almost hard to figure out where to begin. But let me take a step back before we jump into what’s happening at this moment, and what has happened over the last 40 years to the West Bank, to Palestinian land. But talk a bit about the Palestinian Farmers Union. For 17 years, you’ve been doing this work, and you’re a farmer.

Abbas Milhem:

Yes.

Marc Steiner:

Talk about that history a little bit so our listeners can understand who you are and where you come from.

Abbas Milhem:

Yes. Thank you, Marc. Palestinian Farmers Union is the umbrella of Palestinian farmers, and that union was established since 1993. Actually, few months before the Oslo Peace Agreement was signed between Israelis and the Palestinians, at that time in 1994.

And from the time of establishment, this union was dedicated first to act as the voice of farmers. And we call them the vulnerable farmers, the small-scale farmers in Palestine, acting as the umbrella of them, defending their rights, representing their voices, and trying to provide all the resources needed in order to enhance their agriculture and support the food security of all farmers across West Bank and Gaza Strip.

To do so, in terms of structure, Palestinian Farmers Union started by organizing farmers on district level first. Where in each district — for example, Jenin District, Tulkarm District, Nablus District, Ramallah District, Jericho, Gaza District, and so on — in each district, the Palestinian Farmers Union established Palestinian Farmers Association of each district.

For example, in Jenin, we have Palestinian Farmers Association of Jenin Governorate or Jenin District. And that association act on the district level as the umbrella of the smaller union of farmers in that district, where the special needs and rights of farmers in that district can be addressed and tackled by the Farmers Association.

This was repeated across all West Bank areas, from the north to the south, and then expanded to Gaza. We ended up now as a structure of the union, having 16 farmers associations in 16 different districts. We are a grass-rooted union, with almost 20 members of farmers joining the union through its Farmers Association.

The focus of our work is advocacy and lobby for the rights of farmers. We lobby the government to ensure that the policies, legislations and laws that regulate the agricultural sector are better responsive for farmers’ rights, and help our farmers encounter and face the challenges they are living through and going through because of the Israeli army invasions and the Israeli settlers increased violence against farmers. And these attacks are aiming at emptifying the Palestinian farmlands from farmers.

So, these lands can become easy hunt for settlement expansion, annexation and confiscation. To do so, we try to provide the minimum resilient interventions that enable farmers to stay in their farms.

Marc Steiner:

So, given the present situation, I mean, what I’ve read that you’ve written, and what I understand, is that the amount of land the Palestinians own on the West Bank, and in Gaza itself, but the West Bank, has diminished extensively. I mean, it exists, but barely.

So, talk about that. I mean, and how that has diminished, what happened to the land, and what’s happened to the people on the land.

Abbas Milhem:

Now, the current situation, Marc, is unprecedented. It’s speechless. It has never happened in the history of the Palestinian… what you call Israeli [inaudible 00:04:57]. From 1967 until 1993, there was a stage. And after 1994, when the Oslo Agreement was signed is a different stage. And October 7 until now is a totally completely terrifying and tragic stage.

Israel occupying power has shifted from the level of land grabbing, which means confiscating a small piece of land here and there to establish small settlements or settlement outpost, between 1967 until 1993.

After Palestinians signed the peace agreement with Israel, Israel felt relaxed because the international pressure weakened and almost disappeared. This gave the time for the Israeli government to expand settlement. Number of settlements that was established from the time when Palestinians and Israelis signed the peace agreement in 1994, until October 6th, one day before this aggression war against Gaza, has jumped from almost 150,000 settlers to 750,000 settlers.

And this expansion in settlers in West Bank was on the account of Palestinian farmers, by confiscating their land, imposing control on their access to their land, in order to allow more settlers to be deployed, and the expansions of the already-existing settlements, and the establishment of the new settlements from the south of West Bank in Hebron until the north part in Jenin.

And this, as I said, was on the account of the farmland area that is owned by Palestinian farmers, but now controlled and under the control of the Israeli army for the sake and for the benefit of serving Israeli settlers who were brought up from different parts of the world to this area.

Marc Steiner:

So, just so people listening to this understand, and we all understand, what was the process? How did Israel… We know after the ’67 war, Israel occupied the West Bank, it occupied Gaza, and went north as well. But what was the process? What was the process that happened? How did Palestinian farmers lose the land? What was the number of the percentage of farms, and where they are today?

Abbas Milhem:

Look, Israeli occupation is a very smart occupation, to be honest. They try to apply all the laws that were in Palestine from different mandates all over history, from the Ottoman Empire date, through British mandate time, through Jordanian era, until the military occupation of West Bank.

For example, if they want to confiscate a piece of land, they try to look into the Ottoman Empire era laws. If there is a law that would justify the military, the Israeli army control of that land, they apply that plan, that law, on Palestinians.

For example, during the Ottoman Empire period, there was a very great policy by Ottoman Empire stating that, to encourage people to cultivate their land, they did a special policy saying, if you as a farmer do not cultivate your land for continuously three years, your land will be taken and given to another farmer, maybe your neighbor, who will cultivate that land, and you will take a rent, a price for that rent.

This was a very good policy because the Ottoman people at that time, they want to encourage the expansion of the greens area in Palestine to ensure all lands are cultivated.

Now, Israel is benefiting. For example, one of the ways how they apply these techniques, they come to a land in Jordan Valley that is classified as Area C according to Oslo Agreement. Area C means the land is under the control of the Israeli military forces. And because they impose restrictions on farmers to access their farmland, and they control the water resources, large part of this land is not cultivated, because farmers are unable to go there, because the military would kick them out and force them to leave.

So, if a farmer does not use his land or cultivate the land for three years, they apply the Ottoman Empire period law on that land. But they take it from Abbas as a farmer, and they give it to Shlomo as a settler. They don’t give it to Abbas’ nephew or Abbas’ cousin as a Palestinian farmer. No, they take it, they give it to Shlomo as a settler.

Marc Steiner:

But you’re saying, they started this by using laws from the early 20th century, from the Ottoman Empire?

Abbas Milhem:

This is one, yeah. This is one. This is one mechanism. A second mechanism, if they don’t find an excuse from the Ottoman Empire period law, they try to find any laws or policies that were adopted and endorsed by the British government mandate era.

If they don’t find, they try the Jordanian era. If they don’t find, they issue a military order by saying, “For security reason, this piece of land is confiscated.”

Marc Steiner:

So, in brief, how much land did Palestinian farmers have, and how much have they lost?

Abbas Milhem:

Ah. Now, because the situation now is different, now 60%.

According to the Oslo Agreement, the land was categorized in into three different categories: Area A, which are the housing area in the cities under the full controlled by Palestinian government; Area B are the housing areas of villages and towns; Area C are the rest part of Palestinian land, which forms 60% of the entire Palestinian land is categorized as Area C, and under the control of the Israeli military occupation.

In that land, most of settlement had been established, and has been expanded and established. Now, Palestinians in Area C almost have no access to almost 85% of this land in Area C. Almost 85% had been under the full control of the Israeli army, who transferred that control to the settler leaders, and settlement in the different location.

This is what we have lost due to this military occupation of Palestine. They are a military occupation, and most of the land was confiscated or annexed based on military issuing military orders for this land.

Marc Steiner:

So now, your family have been farmers for generations, correct?

Abbas Milhem:

Yeah. Yes.

Marc Steiner:

And you said you’re living around the town of Ramallah?

Abbas Milhem:

Yes.

Marc Steiner:

All right. What has happened to your land, your olive groves, your trees, your farm? What’s happened to you?

Abbas Milhem:

Yeah. I told you I’m in Ramallah, but I’m not from Ramallah. I work in Ramallah. And because of my work, I’ve been living here, but I go in regularly to Jenin area. I’m from a small town in Jenin District called Kafr Ra’i. I am a farmer who is a son of a farmer who was a son of a farmer. And for the past 500 years, actually, we were farmers only.

And the main agriculture sector in my town are olive trees, because we have no water for irrigation, because the control over water resources are in the hands of the Israeli occupation, and we are not allowed to get access to our natural water resources. That’s why we depend on the rainfall.

Because of that, most of the trees we are planting in our areas with the absence of water is our olive trees. I have three olive farms in my town, in my village. All of them are located in the so-called Area B. It’s supposed to be safe, not risky area, under the control of Palestinian authority.

Since this aggression war against Gaza erupted in October 7 until now, settlers benefited from this emergency situation, and expanded their attacks and their violence against Palestinian farmers by attacking most of the lands around, including my farmland, categorized as Area B.

And for a year until now, I have been unable to visit or access my farmland. Even the families who tried to go to these lands were beaten by settlers, arrested by settlers, harassed by settlers, and all their agricultural tools and equipment were stolen. So, this is the case of my farm, and I’m only one example of hundreds of thousands of examples of other farmers in the West Bank.

Marc Steiner:

So, have the Israelis passed new rules or laws that say you cannot go to your farm, that you’re not allowed into your farm? Or is this part of settler attacks blocking you from your farm?

Abbas Milhem:

It’s the attacks that are blocking me. It’s the settler violence that is blocking me. And those settlers, when they conduct their attacks and their violence against us as farmers, they come with the full protection from the Israeli army. Where you can do nothing, and if you even shout or cry or protest, they accuse you of being violent and terrorist. They either shoot you, the Israeli army, or arrest you.

So, the Israeli army is providing full security, backing up for settlers attacks, preventing Palestinians from doing anything to resist the prisons or to defend their right of ownership of that land. And in many cases, in many occasions, the harassment was done jointly by settlers and the army against our farmers and against our land.

Now, number of olive trees that had been cut off or burned from October 7 until now, Marc, exceeded 10,000 olive trees so far. The number of trees that were uprooted from the time of occupation in 1967 until now, 2.5 million trees. Again, I repeat, it’s 2.5 million trees that have been uprooted, destroyed, cut off or burned, by the army and the settlers, from 1967 until now.

We at the union, along with other organizations working on supporting farmers to cultivate their land, have succeeded to plant 3 million trees. But 2.5 million of which were, of course, destroyed, and we still have another half million trees. Not only olive trees. Olive trees, almond and fruit trees, different types of trees, and the battle is still there.

So, the message of Palestinian farmers is, we are resisting the occupation by cultivating our land. We are resisting your harassment by insisting to cultivate our land, because it is a land that we own, and the land we inherited from our fathers, who inherited from their fathers and their grandfathers, and so on.

Now, to respond to these challenges, farmers are using Palestinian Farmers Union, in cooperation with Freedom Farm. Lately, recently, since a year until now, we have cooperated in launching this campaign that is called Freedom Farm, led by Freedom Farm Campaign in the US, and that is calling people to donate and support to help farmers cultivate their farmland with olive trees, providing them with internal irrigation networks that would help supplementary irrigation during dry season and summertime, and protect that land by providing steel fence that will protect the farmland from wild animals and from settlers’ attacks.

The first we call it Freedom Farm. The first Freedom Farm that was established in 2018 was Mu’taz Bisharat Farm in Jordan Valley. And he’s one of the very unique and special farmers there. He was the first one cooperated with us to establish a Freedom Farm in an area that had been never accessible in the past predicates, until now.

But because he was insisting, we supported him and established the first farm in that area. And luckily, we succeeded, and we were very proud to see that these trees we planted survived and were not cut off by settlers.

Although the farm is only 50 meters farm from a nearby settlement in that area, called Ru’ei Settlement, despite that, we succeeded to make that farm survival with the steel fence we provided to that farm, which helped minimize the settler attacks against that one.

And once this Where Olive Trees Weep movie was launched, and there were many viewers in the world viewing that movie… And I would like to seize the moment from your program and thank all the viewers who watched that, Where Olive Trees Weep, and thanks all who worked to produce that movie. These viewers, with the money they contributed, helped us to establish four Freedom Farms, two of them for two women farmers and two for male farmers in Palestine, from the money that came from the viewers who viewed this movie.

That’s why we’re calling upon more viewers to watch that video, and more contributions and funds to come, in order to be able to establish as many Freedom Farms as possible. Because by doing Freedom Farms, Marc, is very important here to notice that establishing a Freedom Farm has two goals, two objectives.

The first one, protect that land from being confiscated. As I said in the beginning, the cultivated land is protected, almost. And second, we help farmers generate income for their livelihoods. And those are the two main goals of doing that.

But to make it difficult for confiscation, or for settler violence, we provide the fencing and the internal irrigation network that support and help the trees to naturally growing and giving fruits faster.

Marc Steiner:

So, a couple of quick questions about that. I mean, A, how long does it take olive tree to grow before you can harvest?

Abbas Milhem:

Yes.

Marc Steiner:

How long?

Abbas Milhem:

Yeah. And without irrigation, it will need five years. With irrigation, in the second year of plantation, that tree will start fruiting. So, we are buying in almost two to three years of time to allow that tree to give fruits because of the irrigation system. That’s why we insisted with Freedom, together we agreed to allow natural and faster growth of the trees to fruit and generate income for farmers. We provide these Freedom Farms with internal irrigation system, and this irrigation system would be only used during dry season and a hot summer. So, we adapt what we call supplementary irrigation.

Because if the tree get thirsty because of this climate change in Palestine, water is scarcity in climate change, rain water is getting lower and lower, so we need to compensate the tree by irrigating that tree. If you irrigate a tree and perform environmentally friendly farming practices, that tree would fruit in two years from the time of plantation.

And by doing this, we are really buying in time for farmers. Instead of waiting five years, he waits only two years. And our system, our Freedom Farm, are smart in a way that even farmers do not need to wait two years to generate income. Because of the internal irrigation system we provide in these Freedom Farms, Marc, farmers can cultivate with what we call in-between farming, like vegetable production, like field crops that generate seasonal income every year. And from this income, farmers can use that income to look after their Freedom Farms and to secure some money for their livelihood, food security needs.

Marc Steiner:

So, a couple of questions here. And I know that we’ve been talking to Cyrus Copeland, who you’re talking about, who helped create this in Palestine, but it raises some questions. The first one is, so what is to stop the Israeli government, and/or settlers, from tearing down the fences? From destroying the farms that Freedom Farms build, to put Palestinian farmers back to work? I mean, because I can see just listening to you and seeing your ebullience, your joy in what the work is, in kind of resisting, and also being a farmer creating these farms. But what’s the stop the Israelis from tearing them down?

Abbas Milhem:

There is nothing guaranteed as long as the occupation is there. 100% there is no guarantee. But we, out of experience, for the past 30 years, from [inaudible 00:22:29] until now, we know which areas are risky than other areas.

Although, Area C, that 60% of entire Palestinian land categorized as Area C, but the level of risk is different even within that area.

There is what we call… And maybe Cyrus, I told him about this. There is a red area. Red area for us means that accessibility is almost 90% risky. If you cultivate there, most likely what you cultivate will be destroyed by a percentage of almost more than 80%.

Another area is categorized, in our experience, as yellow areas. It is risky, 50-50. But if you do something on the ground, it might stay with a percentage of 50-50. It’s risky, but doable.

And there are areas within Area C that are far enough from settlement, and less risky, and categorized or colored as light yellow areas. We in Freedom Farm, Treedom and PFU, started with the light yellow colored and less-risky areas.

Why? Because we want to build a successful model where all these olive farms can stay. And once they stay, survive, and they are surviving until now. We have so far planted 10 Freedom Farms in Palestine, four of which were, as I told you, from Where Olive Trees Weep video and the viewers of that video.

So far, we established 10 farms from them, and we are, inshallah, eager, and looking for another set of Freedom Farms to be established from the Where Olive Trees Weep near to Mu’taz Psharat Farm in Jordan Valley, which is less-risky area.

Once these Freedom Farms survive, and they are surviving, and they will continue to survive, inshallah, because they are in less risky area, this will create a pact on the ground, and even the army and the settlers will see that there are trees surrounded and cultivated in that area. So, if you expand with another set of farms there, that will not be noticed that much.

Marc Steiner:

So, to conclude here with this, given the political situation at the moment, with the war of Gaza, which is also the war in the West Bank, that Palestinians are being killed and jailed in the West Bank as well, in the midst of this, there’s these Freedom Farms growing, and you’re trying to push back by building a community and building agriculture and building work.

I’m curious politically, what do you think happens next, then? Because you’re building, and other farmers are trying to build a world out of the rubble that Israel created by destroying the farms in the beginning, and now there’s this war going on where close to 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza alone.

So, talk to us about where you think the next steps are for you, and everybody else in the West Bank. Where do you see how the war will affect all the work you’re doing and where it goes next?

Abbas Milhem:

For Palestinian farmers, it’s different from the outside world vision and view.

For us, we have no option except to continue going to our farms every day, despite the harassment we are subject to.

In my farm, the one I told you before, for example, all my family members and farmers, they go there every day. They get harassed, they get beaten, they get out, they come back in the second day, and so on.

There are farmers who lost their lives in their farm. Like what happened with Bilal Saleh, for example, from a Saudi town last year. Olive harvest season, while he was harvesting his crops, he was shot to death by settlers in front of his wife and children.

But none of the farmers of that town stopped going back to their farms. This is the way we are resisting. And maybe it looks like a Hollywood movie? It is a Hollywood movie. It is a Hollywood. Farmers are going there. And this is… For a farmer, it’s very difficult to lose your olive farm.

Marc Steiner:

Yes.

Abbas Milhem:

Olive farm, and olives in general, and the olive tree, symbolizes identity. Symbolizes life and the source of life for the largest farming community in Palestine. It is religious. Olive tree is mentioned in the Holy Quran. For most of Palestinians who are Muslims, there is a special verse in the Holy Quran about the olive tree and the symbols, what that olive tree symbolizes. It’s religious, it’s peaceful, it is patriotic, it is identity, it is a source of life.

So, for Palestinians, an olive tree is their life. The way they sacrifice their life, would sacrifice their life to defend that olive tree. And we are succeeding. Despite all the attacks, we are still going to our land.

Now, with the Freedom Farms, as I said from the beginning, the mechanism we are using is way different because of the October 7 until now. We are in the level of going to the less-risky areas that are at least 300 meters in the radar far from settlements, and Palestinians can access and can protect it.

It’s not that easy for settlers to come that far to attack these farms, unless they come in groups, and with the Israeli army all the time. But they don’t come on daily basis. It’s tiring, even for the army, because there are so many settlements, and so many Palestinian citizen villages. I mean, they need triple the number of the Israeli army to provide security for all settlers attacking these farms.

But all communities, local villages and towns are there to protect the land, and they go and they cultivate and they practice their farming.

And the slogan we have in the union, we have a list where you can read that slogan, “If you uproot one tree, we will cultivate ten.” This is the slogan across Farmers Union, and the members across West Bank and Gaza. And now in Gaza, Marc, the situation is different. The entire agriculture sector had been-

Marc Steiner:

Destroyed.

Abbas Milhem:

… completely, entirely destroyed. All animals, livestock sector in Gaza, is 100% demolished and destroyed, while in vegetable production is 85% destroyed. There are still some number of greenhouses that are still producing vegetables there.

And we purchase this produce from farmers, our farmers in Gaza, and we make food parcels that are distributed for internally displaced people in Gaza. But of course, the amount of production, it’s only 15%. And the need there for food aid in Gaza is at its maximum.

So, we are trying to do something, building models here and there, and inshallah, this war will be over one day hopefully, and we will build back again the agriculture sector in Gaza, and Gaza will be nicer and prettier than before.

Marc Steiner:

I want to say one thing as we close here. Abbas Milhem, this has been a pleasure to talk with you, and to see somebody who is a farmer who is fighting for the future, fighting for the freedom of Palestinian people as well, to build a future, and you do it with such joy and effervescence. It is a pleasure to see and a pleasure to experience. So, I thank you so much for taking your time with us today.

Abbas Milhem:

Thank you, Marc. And just to end up here by saying, we have belief deep in our hearts as farmers, the future is ours. Occupiers and settlers will be part of the past. Believe me, this will happen. And we will serve together. If not us, then our children, and maybe sons, and so on in the future.

Marc Steiner:

The long view. Thank you so much.

Abbas Milhem:

Thank you. Thank you, Marc. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Marc Steiner:

Once again, let me thank Abbas Milhem for joining us today from Ramallah in Palestine, and Cyrus Copeland, who produced the film Where Olive Trees Weep, for introducing us to Abbas Milhem.

And thanks to Cameron Grandino for running the program today, Audio Editor Alina Nehlich, Producer Rosette Sawali, and the tireless Kayla Rivara for making it all work behind the scenes, and everyone here at The Real News for making this show possible.

Please, let me know what you thought about what you heard today, what you’d like us to cover. Just write to me at mss@therrealnews.com, and I’ll get right back to you.

Once again, thank you Abbas Milhem for joining us today and for the joy he brings to his work. And as he said, if settlers tear down an olive tree, they will grow 10. So, for the crew here at The Real News, I’m Marc Steiner. Stay involved, keep listening, and take care.

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