Genocide and food weaponisation in Palestine: global resistance as hope

The Israeli army has killed close to 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza, at least half of them women and children. Over 83,000 have been injured and another 10,000 are missing, buried under rubble. In the occupied West Bank, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 133 children, and more than 5,000 injured. Nearly the entire health system in Gaza has been destroyed, along with all universities and research and cultural institutions. The International Court of Justice has ruled that there is a 'plausible' case of genocide by the state of Israel.

As genocide continues to unfold before the eyes of the world, it has become evident that the obliteration of Palestinian food systems is a central part of the strategy. As the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food recently denounced, in the space of a few months, Israel has deliberately starved more than two million people -- and it continues to do so. It has destroyed one-third of Gaza’s agricultural lands, 80% of the fishing fleet and wrecked its irrigation systems. Israeli forces have prevented countless food convoys from entering the territory by land or by sea, directly shelling aid workers in the process. The consequences are unbearable and irreversible. As of April 2024, international authorities had determined that famine was taking hold in the Gaza strip.

Since the Nakba in 1948, that marked the violent destruction of over 500 villages and the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians, the devastation of Palestinian food systems has been a key tactic in the expansion of the apartheid state. Through the violent control of land, water, and sea, peasant agriculture, artisanal fishing and markets have been targeted. Israeli settlers, most of the time accompanied by the Israeli army, are increasingly responsible for those attacks in the West Bank.

In order to expand illegal settlements and drive Palestinians into dependency on Israeli imports, settler forces have uprooted since 2000 more than 3 million olive and other fruit trees, vital to Palestinian culture and food sovereignty. In addition, in 2008 the Israeli occupation imposed a 'calorie counting' system, dubbed the 'death diet', designed to reduce Palestinians' access to food to levels just above starvation. This has resulted in over 64% of Gazans experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity by 2022.

Despite decades of direct and systematic attacks on their food supply, the Palestinian people has been resisting, protecting and developing community-controlled food systems, with women often taking a leading role.

The dramatic onslaught in Gaza is leading to a strong shift in world opinion and political action, as a crisis which cannot be ignored. Youth have taken a leading role in shutting down schools and mobilising for Palestine, demanding accountability from leaders. People's mobilisations are making it clear that nations that explicitly, implicitly or by silence support Israel's apartheid and hegemony are complicit in genocide. People are in the streets calling for ceasefire, military sanctions and all forms of disengagement and divestment from Israel. In many cases there has been violent repression by the police, such as on university campuses, where they were called in at the behest of university administrations. In several countries, there is a growing disconnect between people and political classes. In others, leaders are making moves to support Palestine and pressure Israel. We strongly believe that this is where the true power lies: in the resistance of the Palestinian people and the growing global solidarity movement.

GRAIN reaffirms its solidarity and commitment to the Palestinian people’s struggle for decolonisation, self-determination and sovereignty over land, water and other resources. We call for an immediate end to the genocide and an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. We also express our solidarity with all those organising and calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

We call for an immediate end to food militarisation and weaponisation in Palestine and beyond. Systematic attacks on food are also being deployed in conflicts in Haiti, Sudan, El Salvador, Myanmar and Ethiopia.