November 7, 2024
Middle East Monitor –
Israeli soldiers guard Jewish settlers as they seize the lands of Palestinian farmers in the village of Burqin, west of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank
Israeli soldiers guard Jewish settlers as they seize the lands of Palestinian farmers in the village of Burqin, west of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank
[Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]
In the 1980s and 1990s, Israel took the initiative to establish illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, in the form of “agricultural and shepherd farms”, with the aim of plundering swaths Palestinian land, an investigative report by Haaretz newspaper has said.
According to the report, these “settler farms” have received huge funding from successive Israeli governments, although a very small number of settlers live in them.
These settlers include dozens of school dropouts who were transferred by the government to the “farms” as if they were institutions that care for juvenile delinquents. Instead these young men are groomed and used in terrorist attacks against Palestinians.
According to Haaretz, the number of these “farms” has increased from 23 in 2017 to about 60 at the end of 2021, and to 90 “farms” in 2024 with an estimated area of 650,000 dunams (650 square kilometres), or about 12 per cent of the area of the occupied West Bank.
The secretary general of the Israeli settlement movement Amana says the movement’s central mission is “preserving open areas mainly through farms”, explaining that “the settlers’ farms has more than twice the area of built-up settlements… each farm can guard an area of thousands of acres.”
Successive Israeli governments have, in recent years, transformed tens of these shepherds’ outposts, or “farms”, into “central projects” and provided them with resources in an unprecedented manner.
“Tens of millions of shekels were pumped into these farms directly from different ministries, the settlements’ budgets and the Settlement Authority,” the report said.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reiterated that he was working to legalise them, according to the newspaper.
The farms also receive funding from the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (the Permanent Fund for Israel – KKL), through the “Youth at Risk” project, which aims to “whitewash the farms” and finance them. The project includes “enrichment programmes” provided by the Ministry of Education.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Israel took the initiative to establish illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, in the form of “agricultural and shepherd farms”, with the aim of plundering swaths Palestinian land, an investigative report by Haaretz newspaper has said.
According to the report, these “settler farms” have received huge funding from successive Israeli governments, although a very small number of settlers live in them.
These settlers include dozens of school dropouts who were transferred by the government to the “farms” as if they were institutions that care for juvenile delinquents. Instead these young men are groomed and used in terrorist attacks against Palestinians.
According to Haaretz, the number of these “farms” has increased from 23 in 2017 to about 60 at the end of 2021, and to 90 “farms” in 2024 with an estimated area of 650,000 dunams (650 square kilometres), or about 12 per cent of the area of the occupied West Bank.
The secretary general of the Israeli settlement movement Amana says the movement’s central mission is “preserving open areas mainly through farms”, explaining that “the settlers’ farms has more than twice the area of built-up settlements… each farm can guard an area of thousands of acres.”
Successive Israeli governments have, in recent years, transformed tens of these shepherds’ outposts, or “farms”, into “central projects” and provided them with resources in an unprecedented manner.
“Tens of millions of shekels were pumped into these farms directly from different ministries, the settlements’ budgets and the Settlement Authority,” the report said.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reiterated that he was working to legalise them, according to the newspaper.
The farms also receive funding from the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (the Permanent Fund for Israel – KKL), through the “Youth at Risk” project, which aims to “whitewash the farms” and finance them. The project includes “enrichment programmes” provided by the Ministry of Education.
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