Tucked away amid the palm trees in one of the world's oldest cities, an unadorned white warehouse sits on a dusty plot of land. Inside, air conditioners hum as workers hover over elevated beds of dirt. They methodically pick out the pearly white domes peeking out from the compost as a strip of neon lights shines overhead.
on June 16, 2016When Israel’s navy last month expanded the area where Palestinians are allowed to sail off the coast of the Gaza Strip, fishermen hoped for the catch of the decade. Photographer Jehad Seftawi accompanied some of them on April 3 as they ventured more than six nautical miles off the coast for the first time since 2006.
on May 5, 2016Gaza rescue crews tried to salvage livestock and produce on Wednesday after a sewage reservoir collapsed, flooding about 25 acres (10 hectares) of farmland in a new sign of the worsening water and sewage crisis in the Hamas-run territory. Residents said about 40,000 cubic meters (10.5 million gallons) of raw sewage poured out of the reservoir on Tuesday and flooded the Sheikh Ejleen neighborhood in southern Gaza City in just 15 minutes.
on May 4, 2016In the rocky hills of the Palestinian West Bank, farmers learned long ago how to adapt to extremes of climate that make spring the shortest season. In a part of the world where agriculture was first practised, they found crops that could survive even if watered only by the occasional rain storm.
on April 23, 2016How produce from the West Bank should be labelled – be it from Israeli-occupied or Palestinian territories – has become a highly controversial issue. Yet the daily obstacles facing Palestinian farmers in the West Bank are probably less well known. Whether their produce is destined for overseas consumers or for the 4.68 million Palestinians split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
on April 12, 2016Israeli forces on Wednesday morning uprooted and burned 47 olive tree saplings that were planted in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan last month to mark the 40th anniversary of Land Day. Majdi al-Abbassi, a spokesperson for the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, said Israeli police and intelligence officials stormed a tract of land in Silwan's Ras al-Amud area...
on April 6, 2016Despite his young age Yazan has already been working full-time for a year – he started work when he turned 14 and works five days a week, eight hours a day, carrying out the back-breaking work. The farm the child works on is part of the Israeli settlement of Tomer, a mass of pristine red-tiled homes and lush green farms accompanied by row upon row of polytunnels.
on March 14, 2016During 2015, Jordan Valley settlements appropriated 600 dunams (150 acres) of Palestinian farmland in an area that is off-limits to Palestinians for “security reasons.” After the West Bank was occupied in 1967, the Israel Defense Forces issued Military Order 151, which prohibits Palestinians from entering the area between the border fence and the Jordan River.
on February 29, 2016Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip overnight Thursday, locals said, with no injuries reported. Amjad al-Sharafi, the secretary of Gaza's fishermen union, told Ma'an Israeli forces opened heavy fire on the boats five nautical miles off the coast of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
on February 26, 2016