Agriculture as a tool of settlement : a political ecology and economy analysis of Israeli agricultural development -

Abstract

Israel is often praised for its agricultural and water model, and has used this recognition to better its international standing. However, this takes a historically shallow and uncritical look at the development of Israeli agriculture. Throughout its development Israel’s agricultural and water systems have been built off systemic Palestinian land confiscation, water grabs, and diminishing Palestinian agriculture. This development is not accidental, but the basis of the agricultural development of the Israeli state and pre-state formation. This study takes a historical and ecological look at Israeli agricultural development, how it has changed throughout the history of the Zionist project and the state of Israel, and how it has impacted the socio-ecosystems and landscape of Palestine. To do this, this study uses a multifaceted framework combining food regime theory of global agricultural markets, water paradigms on the sanctioned discourse of water management, and the ideas of settler colonial studies and the shared narratives and strategies of settler states. Using this framework, it then dissects the history of the Zionist and Israeli agricultural settlement into five periods, based on the changing modes and methods of this settlement development and analyzes agricultural development within these timeframes. It then looks at the impacts of this agricultural development on Palestinian socio-ecosystems and landscapes such as changes in patterns of tenancy, water systems, agricultural and grazing systems, and land cover-land use. From this research this study asserts and concludes that throughout its history Israeli agricultural development’s main use and goal was as method to gain, hold, and settle the land of Palestine. Also this large-scale agricultural settlement, clearing, and transforming the previous forms of land use and environmental interaction, radically impacted the socio-ecosystems and landscape of Palestine. While the place of agricultural settlement has changed, shifted, and has falle