Organic Apartheid – Mehola Settlement

The settlement of Mehola is situated in the Northern Jordan Valley. It is comprised of a gated, fenced residential settlement and an agricultural area. The agricultural area is close to the Palestinian village of Ein al Beida and Palestinian workers, including child workers, work in the fields and packing houses. Workers are paid from 60-80 shekels per day, half the Israeli minimum wage, and have no contracts or health insurance. There have been documented incidents of employers in Mehola falsifying wage slips in order to appear to be paying proper wages.

Mehola has an area of 5000 dunums and a population of 351 people. It falls within the Bik’At HaYarden Regional Council of settlements. It was established, in 1967,  on Palestinian land from the Tubas region.

A large proportion of the produce in Mehola is maketed as ‘organic’ for the export market. The two largest companies in the agricultural zone are Arava and Carmel Agrexco. Individual settlers appear to have their own ‘organic’ plots and export through one of these companies.

The residential part of Mehola, behind a barbed wire fence, contains housing, animal pens and a swimming pool.