The political role of date palm trees in the Jordan Valley
The transformation of Palestinian land and water tenure in agriculture made invisible by epistemic violence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4464522 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julie Trottier (0000-0002-4899-8215, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author), Nelly Leblond (0000-0002-7426-2535, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier), Yoni Garb (0000-0002-6008-9882, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Yaakov Garb |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 114-140 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2514848619876546 |
| OpenAlex | W2974580720 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 20 |
In the West Bank, date palm trees have been sweeping over the Jordan Valley at an accelerating rate since the 2000s. The current scientific literature has depicted this transformation as sustainable development. This article proposes a method to harness social sciences in a meaningful manner within the interdisciplinary study of agricultural transformation. Focusing on appropriation rather than bundles of rights, within an exploration of water and land tenure, allows uncovering actors and mechanisms that remain undetected by the current scientific discourse. Date palms transform both land and water tenure. As seasonal labor replaces sharecroppers that lived on site, the livelihoods, housing security, and food security of those practicing family farming are compromised. Geospatial analysis allows a triangulation of the results produced by qualitative methods. Mapping and quantifying the spatial progression of Israeli and Palestinian date palm trees between 1999 and 2016 allows assessing the number of sharecroppers displaced by date palm trees during that period. This demonstrates a Valley Clearance is now occurring, akin to the Highland Clearances that took place in 18th century Scotland. The present transformation of agriculture in the Jordan Valley has clear social and political impacts. Donors, the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian date palm agribusinesses refer to the Palestinian water law within the perspective of a two state solution. The Israeli Water Authority and Israeli settlers further a network of wastewater reuse which stands as the only reliable source of water for date palm cultivation in the foreseeable future and contributes to the development of a one state solution. Meanwhile, Palestinians practicing family farming rely on legal pluralism to secure their access to water
Agriculture · Appropriation · Archaeology · Geography · Land tenure · Livelihood · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Water Governance and Infrastructure
Governing the Commons
The Arid Lands
States of Knowledge
Cropping patterns as a tool for water resource management in Palestine
Legal pluralism, hydraulic property creation and sustainability
Water Governance—An Historical Perspective on Current Debates
Navigating the tensions in collaborative watershed governance
Challenging the Coproduction of Virtual Water and Palestinian Agriculture
The Political Ecology of Peasant-Herder Conflicts in the Northern Ivory Coast
The Politics of Disciplining Water Rights
Water driven Palestinian agricultural frontiers
The Struggle for Water
Commensuration as a Social Process
A Theory of Access
African farmer-led irrigation development
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |