Israeli settlement expansion is not only illegal, it is also destroying Palestineâs environment through the urbanization of the West Bank.
Israeli settlements embody urbanization and the immense harm it poses. First, Israeli settlements are almost entirely built on confiscated Palestinian agricultural or grazing lands and are only erected after clear-cutting and uprooting local flora, namely olive trees: a primary source of food and income for Palestinians. The olive tree is also and an integral element of Palestinian identity, dating back millennia and symbolizing peace, steadfastness, fortitude, and resilience. As of 2015, the olive sub-sector constituted 15% of Palestineâs total agricultural income, supported over 100,000 Palestinian families, and provided â3 to 4 million days of seasonal employment per yearâ. Not only are Palestinian olive trees clear-cut to construct Israelâs illegal settlements, but according to the United Nations, are also âsubject to fire, uprooting and vandalism by settlersâ. Conservative estimates taken in 2011âafter which Israel has only intensified its colonial effortsârevealed that nearly 1 million Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted and destroyed in a settler-colonial attempt to erase all traces of Palestinian heritage, culture, and existence. According to a 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the destruction of Palestinian olive trees â a cog in the greater, well-oiled Israeli mechanism of ethnic cleansing â coupled with the strategic expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, has devastated terrestrial ecosystems, causing severe âhabitat fragmentation, desertification, land degradations, rapid urbanization, and soil erosionâ. The UNEP went on to state that the process of urbanization through the âremoval of rocks for construction, the uprooting of trees, invasive species [most often imported by the Israeli government and settlers to âEuropeanizeâ the land], [and] pollutionâŚ[is] threatening habitats and species.â The cruel, discriminatory measures Israel imposes upon Palestinians has led, among other issues, to a drastic decrease in agricultural productivityâand hence economic growth and stabilityâacross Palestine. The effect of urbanization on local fauna is equally frightening. The previously diverse Palestinian fauna is under imminent threat. Israelâs construction of roads, the methods used to do so, and a sheer disregard for their ecological ramifications all threaten and harm Palestinian wildlife. Israeli forces often drill deep into mountainsâinhabited by a wide range of natural faunaâthereby both displacing local wildlife populations, inhibiting their natural migrations, and resulting in a spike in animal deaths through roadkill. Furthermore, the destruction of the animalsâ natural habitatâparticularly their breeding and nesting sitesâthrough âextensive land leveling and the fencing-off of settlement perimetersâ has disrupted natural passageways, endangered many species, and caused severe imbalances in their population number and reproduction rates, affecting the food chain and local ecosystem as a whole.
