Farming Season in the West Bank: Lands and Livelihoods Under Israeli Access Restrictions, Settler Terror and Demolitions

June 4, 2026
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As agriculture remains an important source of livelihood in the West Bank, this farming season provides a critical temporal lens to examine the cumulative pressures affecting agricultural access in the occupied West Bank and their devastating overall impact on Palestinian livelihoods, including movement restrictions, administrative access regimes, and settler crimes impacting farming communities.

Approximately 700,000 families reside in the West Bank, of whom an estimated 115,000 depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, highlighting the sector’s role in supporting food security and household income.

Access to Palestinian land has been increasingly affected by the expansion of Israeli movement restrictions across the West Bank, which has been on a significant rise since 7 October 2023. As of December 2025, there were 925 movement obstacles that permanently or intermittently restrict movement. At least 20% of documented closures restrict access to agricultural land, further limiting Palestinian farmers’ ability to reach, cultivate, and manage their land. Consequently, access restrictions have increasingly limited Palestinian farmers’ ability to reach and cultivate their land.

In addition to movement restrictions, Palestinian access to agricultural land has long been subject to additional permit and coordination requirements in certain areas. For example, Palestinian farmers seeking access to land isolated between the Annexation Wall and the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice Line) must obtain special permits or prior military coordination to cross approximately 62 “agricultural gates”, most of which remain closed year-round. Also, 98 Palestinian communities across nine governorates are required to obtain prior coordination from the Israeli military to access farmland located near Israeli settlements.

Area C of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) – approximately 60% of the West Bank- includes almost all land suitable for agricultural production. It remains under unlawful exclusive Israeli control. Approximately 70 percent of Area C falls within the boundaries of Israeli settlement regional councils (distinct from municipal boundaries) and is designated as off-limits for Palestinian use and development. The agricultural and other built structures in Area C are subject to Israeli demolition orders due to Israel’s discriminatory planning system, on the grounds of lacking Israeli-issued building permits. On 25 May 2026, since the beginning of 2026, around 71% of approximately 400 structures demolished in Area C for lacking Israeli-issued building permits were agricultural, livelihood-related, or water and sanitation structures. This indicates that agricultural and livelihood-related infrastructure has been among the primary categories of structures affected by demolitions in Area C during 2026.

Alongside these administrative and planning-related restrictions, Palestinian agricultural access has also been heavily affected by escalating settler violence across the West Bank. A marked escalation in settler crimes has been documented across the West Bank, with approximately 680 attacks reported between the beginning of January and 23 April 2026 across more than 200 communities. In the same period, Israeli settlers’ terror affecting the agricultural sector included the uprooting and destruction of olive trees and other fruit trees, the release of settler livestock into cultivated fields, theft of livestock, damage to agricultural infrastructure, restrictions on farmers’ and herders’ access to agricultural land, and activities associated with the establishment or expansion of settlement outposts. 

These incidents indicate a wide geographic spread of violence affecting rural and agricultural areas, resulting in enormous damage. For example, between 14 and 20 April, more than 260 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized.

Moreover, settler attacks systematically target water resources across the West Bank, which remain vital for the survival of the sector. More than 60 water-related structures and infrastructure, including irrigation systems, pipelines, and water tanks, were vandalized by Israeli settlers during the first months of 2026, affecting water access in 32 Palestinian communities. The affected infrastructure formed part of the water systems supporting agricultural activities and rural livelihoods in the impacted communities.

One of the areas affected by settler attacks is the Jordan Valley, which remains one of the most important agricultural regions in Palestine, contributing approximately 60% of the West Bank’s vegetable production and 30% of its fruit production (Ministry of Agriculture, 2023). On 19 February 2026, over 90% of Palestinians displaced due to settler attacks and access restrictions in 2026 to date have been in the Jordan Valley area, which also accounts for more than one third of such displacement since January 2023. 

Movement restrictions, administrative permit requirements, and settler violence reinforce each other by limiting physical access to land, increasing uncertainty, and raising the cost and risk of agricultural activity. Together, they shape a constrained agricultural environment in which access is continuously conditional rather than guaranteed.

Applicable Legal Framework & Analysis

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its Advisory Opinion “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” (2024), held that Israel’s continued presence in the oPt is unlawful under international law. This conclusion is grounded in the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. In this legal context, restrictions affecting Palestinian agricultural access, including movement limitations, settlement expansion, settler violence and related measures, operate within a framework the ICJ found to be unlawful in its overall maintenance and effects.

The conditions affecting Palestinian agriculture during the 2026 farming season can also be examined through the framework of food sovereignty. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, food sovereignty is “an expression of communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ power to determine how they grow, prepare, share and eat food and a reflection of their relationship to land and water.”¹ In his report on the Palestinian people’s food sovereignty, Fakhri emphasizes that Palestinians’ ability to sustain their communities is closely linked to continued access to land, water, agricultural resources, and local food systems. Viewed through the lens of food sovereignty, the movement restrictions, permit and coordination regimes, demolition of agricultural and water infrastructure, and settler attacks restrict Palestinians’ ability to access and exercise control over the land, water, and agricultural resources. 

With both International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law applicable in the oPt, Israel is bound by both as an occupying power. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food. This right is directly implicated in the West Bank context, where agriculture constitutes a key source of livelihood and food security, as noted at the outset of this update. During the 2026 farming season, access to land, water, and safe movement conditions is therefore central to the ability of farming households to sustain production and ensure subsistence. As documented in this study, however, Palestinian agricultural activity is increasingly affected by movement restrictions, administrative access regimes, demolition of agricultural infrastructure in Area C, and escalating settler violence targeting crops, livestock, and water systems. These combined pressures directly undermine agricultural production and, in turn, the realization of the right to adequate food under Article 11 ICESCR. 

Restrictions on access to agricultural land affect the exercise of the right to freedom of movement. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom.” This protection is relevant in the context of agricultural access in the West Bank, where Palestinian farmers face movement obstacles, gate and permit regimes, and military coordination requirements in order to reach agricultural land. As documented above, at least 20% of documented closures restrict access to agricultural land, further limiting Palestinian farmers’ ability to reach, cultivate, and manage their land, while farmers in areas located behind the Annexation Wall and near Israeli settlements are often required to obtain permits or prior military coordination to access their property.

Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer by an occupying power of parts of its civilian population into occupied territory. In the West Bank, incidents of settler violence affecting agricultural land occur within the broader context of Israeli settlements and settlement-related infrastructure. The documented attacks on farmers, agricultural property, water infrastructure, and access to farmland therefore cannot be viewed in isolation from the settlement environment in which they occur. 

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