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Agriculture sector at the edge of collapsing in the West Bank

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Abstract

In the past, Agriculture has played an important role in the life of Palestinians. It was the cultural and traditional livelihood in Palestine. It was also a prevailing economic activity for the majority of the Palestinians, a source of pride, and a significant key for their survival in the economic hardships. However, the importance of agriculture has declined recently due to the economic transformation in the West Bank. For this reason, this article focuses on the importance of the agriculture sector within the West Bank in the last century, and discusses the economic transformation in the Palestinian economy. It concludes that economy in the West Bank has gone through different phases which led to the negligence towards agriculture, and to the decline in its importance as a livelihood activity. It also concludes that the Palestinian economy has been significantly affected by the political changes in the West Bank. These changes have led to an economic transformation from agriculture to services sector. Furthermore, agriculture was the prevailing economic activity in Palestine, but it has collapsed slowly, and also lost its cultural and traditional importance due to the modern Palestinians concentration on relaxing, comfortable, and higher-earning jobs. In addition, the article concludes that the Israeli limitations and obstacles that are imposed on the Palestinians in the West Bank threat the agriculture sector and limit its performance in food security and labor force. This leads the Palestinian economy to be susceptible to any internal and external shocks and political instability.

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Fig. 1

Source: Author calculations based aerial photo 2016

Fig. 2

Source: Based on data from GeoMOLG (2018)

Fig. 3

Source: Author calculations based on the PCBS, UN data, and the MOA data 2018

Fig. 4

Source: PCBS 2010, and the MOA (2018)

Fig. 5

Source: PCBS 2010/2011

Fig. 6

Source: PCBS 2010/2011

Fig. 7

Source: Based on data from GeoMOLG (2018)

Fig. 8

Source: PCBS 2010, MOA 2008, and author’s calculation 2018

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Notes

  1. Some farmers from Jenin and Tubas governorates uprooted the watermelon crops in 2015 and cucumber crops in 2018. They indicate that the cost is higher than the price in the market compare to the Israeli products. They mention that in case they continue these crops, they will suffer heavy losses due to the competence in the Palestinian market with the Israeli products that filled the Palestinian market with lower prices.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my special appreciation and thankfulness to Professor Dr. Hermann Kreutzmann for hosting me as a visiting researcher to work on this article at the Centre for Development Studies (ZELF) at Freie University Berlin. I would also like to thank him for his fruitful insights, feedbacks, comments, and suggestions, in addition to his countless and priceless logistic support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Birzeit University, Birzeit, P.O. Box 14, West Bank, Palestine

    Mohammad Kittaneh

  2. Centre for Development Studies (ZELF), Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Mohammad Kittaneh

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  1. Mohammad Kittaneh
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Correspondence to Mohammad Kittaneh.

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Kittaneh, M. Agriculture sector at the edge of collapsing in the West Bank. GeoJournal 85, 205–219 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-018-9957-1

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