With PARC around the West Bank

Today has been a much more hopeful day – and what’s more, the sun has been shining for much of the time. And now we’ve ended up at Jericho, and my room has a balcony overlooking the pool – so even if this isn’t a holiday, and it emphatically isn’t, there are at least times that we can really enjoy.

PARC = Palestine Agricultural Relief Committee (as any good Commitment for Life supporter will surely know). However, as soon as Deputy Director Dr Abdellatif Mohammed joined us on the bus at Ramallah (we’d left Bethlehem at 7.00 to be there for 8.30) we learned that that is only its trading name, and that is it now properly known as the Palestine Agricultural Development Association.

When Israel annexed the West Bank in 1967 it did nothing to improve the agricultural sector, leaving farmers discouraged and liable to neglect their land. Then the authorities called on an old Ottoman law that allowed for confiscation of neglected land – an early instance of the land grab mentality that we have seen in recent days in connection with the wall. PARC, or rather its voluntary organisation predecessors, was set up to bridge the gap and provide relief for people working on the land. But from the time of the first Intifada the emphasis has changed to encouraging development projects and diversification, with an increasing emphasis on household economy – moving in effect from pure agriculture to integrated rural development.

reclaimed field

Moving on from Ramallah we visited three villages, the first being Bizzariya, where we were welcomed by a PARC official who led us into the fields above the village. The scenery is incredibly beautiful, with wide ranging views in all directions which in the west stretch to the coastal cities of Israel and nearly to the sea itself. Some of us were distracted by the wild flowers and had to be urged to keep  up, but soon we were at a perfect example of land reclamation which had been explained to us a few minutes earlier while we were sitting in the village council chamber. On one side of the path was the original land, while on the other side, behind a PARC-provided fence, was a field in the first stage of reclamation.

First the big rocks had been removed to provide material for retaining walls and terraces, which help to retain soil humidity and also prevent erosion. Then the land had been thoroughly ploughed, before the planting of fruit trees – in this field almonds, plums and apricots. This programme, which only provides farmers with trees that thrive without irrigation, has already led to a million trees being planted, and they are now working towards the second million. PARC only helps farmers who own their own land, and so have an interest in the success of the scheme – and they number in total between six and eight thousand each year. And of course through these projects Palestine is being helped towards food sovereignty: all the fruit from this field (give it four or five years before harvesting) will be sold within Palestine.

cistern

Walking into the field we gathered around the rainwater cistern – also built with the help of PARC. Rain runs on to the concrete cover and, crudely filtered, is led into the cistern itself, which holds water that will be used to water the summer vegetables grown between the rows of trees – vegetables which include courgettes and snake cucumbers (we’ll have to google them), or sometimes vetch used as a green manure.

We drove further on to Kufrallabad where we met another group of farmers from the local co-operative in their headquarters. As usual cups of Arabian coffee were served, but no sooner had we downed them than massive bowls of fruit were lifted on to the table, allowing us to see and taste for ourselves just what was being produced. The strawberries in particular were a big hit – and clearly were the favoured crop, in that we were given most facts and figures about them. Suffice to say, that whereas Israel once flooded the West Bank with theirs, PARC has enabled Palestine to come closer to being self-sufficient in strawberries. The local co-operative was set up only in 2008 with twenty farmers, but already 35 are members, and all benefiting from the expertise particularly in irrigation that the organisation supplies.

We drove on to a farm of poly-tunnels where we saw for ourselves the simply but effective way in which rain-water was collected from the tunnels, stored in a metal reservoir, and then gravity fed to the tunnels as and when needed. Where water has to be pumped in, it is now metered – so that whereas when farmers were paying by the hour of pumped water they were indifferent to waste, now they are careful to conserve every drop.

Our third visit was to Shoufa, where we were welcomed at the semi-restored Otoman Barqawi Castle, which now serves as headquarters for the farmers’ co-operative. This time our visit, half a mile or so beyond the village, was to a farmer who has installed a cement pool on his land thanks to PARC. Pools of 100 or 200 cubic metres are the norm, for which PARC pays 75% of costs. If the farmer wants a bit of extra capacity then he pays for that himself. Here we saw the concrete pool, half buried in the side of the hillside, surrounded by a thriving plot of broad beans and other spring vegetables. The farmer explained that with the rain water collected here from his greenhouses he has sufficient water to last him for the five winter months, from November to March. He then has to pay for water pumped from the wells- but when August comes, and the water level is low, he stores the water he buys in his pool, just to be on the safe side.

Back at the castle we were served a magnificent meal of Makluba – chicken and lamb served in vast dishes with rice and vegetables, well spiced and full of nuts. And then the long journey back to Ramallah where we dropped off our guide for the day, and a final drive down to Jericho,  which we reached as darkness was falling.

Talking together this evening over dinner and after dinner, it seems that plenty of questions are going through our minds. PARC  is doing great work in helping individual farmers and helping the rural economy, but how can an economy grow effectively under occupation? Everywhere are signs of Israeli presence. From the top of the cement pool we looked across the fields to the separation fence snaking into the distance. On our journey we passed through countless checkpoints: apparently there are more than 500 in the West Bank. We weren’t stopped at any, and most were unmanned – but the knowledge that you might be stopped, and for an inordinate length of time, makes any journey planning hazardous. How, for instance, can  you transport produce efficiently under such circumstances. Passing through Ramallah on our way back we drove past the Palestinian Authority compound – newly built following the virtual destruction of 2002. How can such a state ever offer its peoples the services and resources they need for a full life?

Linda has reminded us that Christian Aid supports PARC through its core funding rather than project work – so in a sense we are contributing to all that we have seen today, for without its core professionals there would be no projects in place. If only there were a way of ensuring that the central needs of ordinary citizens could be met with the same degree of resourcefulness and commitment.