World News
Palestinian cooperative rebuilds West Bank farmland following settler and military disruptions
Farmers in Burin persist with agricultural operations despite crop destruction, property damage, and expanding military access restrictions.
The short version
- Members of the Burin Land and Farming Cooperative in the occupied West Bank continue to replant crops and repair agricultural infrastructure destroyed during settler attacks and Israeli military operations.
- A July incident resulted in destroyed greenhouses and ruined crops, contributing to an estimated tens of thousands of shekels in financial losses for the 25-family cooperative.
- The UN reports that settler violence targeting Palestinians and their property in 2026 is on track to surpass the record levels observed in 2025.
- Local farmers face ongoing access restrictions due to frequently renewed military zone designations covering their agricultural lands.
Key facts
- The Burin Land and Farming Cooperative was established in March 2020 and includes approximately 25 member families farming roughly 25,000 square meters of land.[Al Jazeera]
- A July 14 raid by roughly 10 Israeli settlers destroyed five greenhouses, plastic sheeting, irrigation networks, and approximately 9,000 tomato seedlings belonging to the cooperative.[Al Jazeera]
- Cooperative founder Ghassan Najjar estimated the plastic sheeting damage alone at about 30,000 shekels ($10,000), alongside lost tomato seedlings valued at 8,000 shekels ($2,670).[Al Jazeera]
- Najjar stated that Burin subsequently lost over 1,500 trees to settler fires and military bulldozers, as well as 7,000 of 10,000 square meters of planted wheat to fires prior to harvest.[Al Jazeera]
- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 1,418 Israeli settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage across the West Bank through July 2026.[Al Jazeera]
What remains uncertain
- The precise long-term economic impact and full financial loss from recent settler actions and military land closures in Burin remain unverified beyond local cooperative estimates.[Al Jazeera]