Rooted in Resistance
“He who produces his own food produces his freedom."
- Bakr Hammad, Farm Manager, Farkha Ecovillage
Welcome to Qamar Al-Balad Educational Agroecology Farm, in the occupied Palestinian Territories. This farm is part of the Farkha Ecovillage — a community-led initiative where agriculture, education, and local organising come together in one place.
Life in Farkha unfolds on a hilltop that floats between beauty and pressure. From a distance, the village looks serene. Up close, its story is one of persistence against the tightening grip of Israeli settlements and restrictions: permits denied, land encroached upon, water seized, and olive trees cut or burned. Despite these obstacles, the Farkha community resists, actively defending their soil.
In the occupied Palestinian territories, land is more than livelihood.
It is memory. It is resistance.
For generations, Palestinian communities have protected their land not only for food — but as the core of identity, belonging, and resilience.
At the center of the farm’s work is agroecology, not as an abstract principle, but as a practical approach to growing food, restoring land, and sustaining livelihoods. Agroecology is a movement, a science, and a set of farming practices that combine ecological principles with community knowledge to restore soil, protect water, strengthen biodiversity, and support food sovereignty.
What this looks like on the ground is practical and scalable, terraces are rebuilt stone by stone. Seeds are saved from one season to the next. Water is managed carefully in a place where springs can be taken or blocked without warning. Families, young agronomists, and volunteers maintain these systems collectively, using methods that reduce dependency on external inputs and strengthen local autonomy.
Bakr, who supervises the farm, describes this connection simply:
“The land is sacred to us. It is a story of belonging and identity.”
For him, tending the soil is both agricultural work and a way of affirming presence on land that is consistently under pressure. His day begins by walking through the farm’s paths, checking the beds, touching the soil, and noting what needs care.
Nearby, Amna works among the olive trees that her family has farmed for generations. Farming provides food for her household, but it also carries deep cultural meaning. The olive tree, she explains, is not just an economic resource but a symbol of continuity. Restrictions around access to land and increased settler encroachment have affected daily routines in the village, from reaching long‑standing groves to collecting water from springs that were once freely used. She points to olive trees scarred by settler attacks.
“These trees are a symbol of our steadfastness,” she says. “They cannot uproot us from them, nor uproot them from us.”
In Area C — which makes up about 60% of the West Bank — Palestinian farming is tightly restricted. It is here that the majority of illegal settlements expand, olive trees are uprooted, land and water are seized, and farmers face harassment or violence simply for reaching their fields. Still, communities cultivate. Still, they plant. Still, they rebuild.
Across the West Bank, ILC members, the Arab Agronomist Association and the National Land Coalition (NLC) are expanding this vision. Reviving livelihoods, strengthening food sovereignty, and re‑rooting communities in lands constantly threatened. Saplings become shields; orchards become declarations.
In 2025 alone, over 27,000 olive and fruit trees were distributed across 29 villages.
Agroecology, here, restores more than soil. It restores dignity.
Workshops fill the courtyard of the Ecovillage: women learning organic pest control; youth repairing irrigation lines; elders teaching ancestral seed preservation. These farming techniques rebuild what has been fractured, and pass forward what has been nearly lost.
Today, Palestine Land Day is often marked by marches, speeches, and commemorations. But in Farkha, the most powerful expression of the day is quiet, continuous and steadfast.
Sumud, Arabic for "steadfastness," is a Palestinian concept representing resilient, nonviolent resistance, perseverance, and the commitment to remaining on their land despite oppression.
The work of this farm — and the broader networks supporting it — shows how resilience is cultivated: through knowledge shared across generations, through community‑led stewardship of soil and water, and through a commitment to remain present on the land despite the pressures that challenge that presence. Agroecology as a practice preserves biodiversity, while also protecting Palestinians' right to existence.
This is how a community holds its ground — in memory, in action and in the everyday work of staying rooted in the land that defines them.
Learn more about how ILC is improving people-centred land governance in Palestine in a summary of our contributions
DOWNLOAD HERE
Photos: ©ILC/Nour Abukamal
