The building of the Wall by the Israeli government caused an increase of poverty and unemployment among most of the Palestinian population.

These 4 villages (Anin, At Taiba, Rummana e Silat al Harthiya), in the north-west of the Jenin district, have been among the most affected since the Wall was built. The entire population of these villages, about 20,000 people, depend, for the most part, on fruit trees harvest, mainly olive-trees and almond trees.

The building of the wall in these villages has caused the isolation of 5,400 donum ( i.e. fields; a dolum measures about 1,000 m²) as well as the confiscation of 6,600 donum. Furthermore, the inhabitants are not free to move and go to work in other areas (mostly in Israel).

Because of Israeli authorities’ strict control, the inhabitants are not free to go to farm their own fields or work in other areas (mostly in Israel). Therefore farmers agree to share the product with the harvester. If the ground is no longer farmed, it loses in fertility, and hence it will yield less. So while the prices of these products do not increase, production and transport costs grow.

Prices are controlled mostly by big traders, who garantee the transport and access to markets of the products; for these small producers, this means another cost, about 10%of the total value of the products.

At the same time products coming from Israeli settlements arrive in the West Bank, without any kind of control. This means prices remain low, because they are subsidized by the government.

This is why Palestinian farmers often have to leave their fields as farming does not assure an income, and sometimes actually becomes a cost. Young people do not undertake farming; fields are abandoned and later confiscated.

The consequence is an increase of the unemployment rate (35%) and of poverty (75%).

Through this project, the idea is to intervene in order to help the poorest producers by reclaiming fields for the production of almonds and wheat. Almonds’ production gives a job and an income to the producers and to groups of women who spend the whole summer in the shelling: thanks to this job they are able to pay the education costs for their children. Wheal is used for the production of “Matful” or of “Cous Cous” by groups of women. These products are then distributed through fair trade channel.

125 small farmers and breeders, with their families (about 750 families, each family consists, on the average, of 6 members) profited from this project, without considering the workers employed temporarily for the realization of the project.

What has already been done

- building of water tanks, preparation of the ground, planting of almond-trees in 450 donum

- preparation of the ground and the sowing of wheal in 280 donum