This is a crucial time of year for Palestinian farmers in the Jordan Valley, as they are ploughing the land ready to plant crops of wheat and chickpeas.

Farmers can only grow these crops in the winter because they are systematically denied access to affordable water, preventing them from growing any crops throughout the summer months. That makes November the most crucial month for preparing the land and sowing their seeds. Without these crops they cannot sustain their families.

Thus, at the beginning of November, the Israeli military began their campaign of harassment against Palestinian farmers to prevent them from planting their crops. With their military bases and watchtowers ono every hill across the Jordan Valley they are constantly surveilling the local population – they know every time a Palestinian farmer is going out to work on his land. They are strategically using this information to completely destroy the Palestinian agrarian economy by stopping farmers and confiscating their tractors or other vehicles every time they go out to work.

On 16th November occupation forces targeted the community around Makhul in the northern Jordan Valley. They detained 4 farmers and confiscated their tractors, potentially devastating for them and their families.

This is not a new strategy and has been used over and over again by the Israeli military. In the past, when they have confiscated tractors and other farm vehicles, they have kept them for at least a month before returning them to their owners, by which time the season for working on land is over. What’s more, the owner of each tractor will be fined at least 7000 shekels. They will also only return the tractors on condition that the farmers sign an agreement not to use the tractors in the Jordan Valley.