On the occasion of the International Day of Action for People`s Food Sovereignty and against transnational corporations comes on 16 October, while global social and political movements continue their tireless efforts to achieve popular sovereignty over their natural resources and food, the MENA region is plunged into a comprehensive war that increases the suffering of traditional rural communities, peasants, small farmers, fisherfolk, and small food producers. In particular, they have been facing mass displacement over the past years, the loss of their lands and properties, and their exposure to the risk of famine and systematic starvation, as a result of the scourge of ongoing wars and conflicts.
Since the Hamas retaliation on 7 October 2023 and Israel`s genocide and ethnic cleansing has continued against the Palestinian people, occupied by Zionist colonialism for more than 76 years. This onslaught has so far led to the martyrdom of more than 42 thousand Palestinians, the majority of whom are children and women, and the serial displacement of more than 1.9 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and 10 thousand Palestinians in the West Bank. These violations against civilians are in addition to the daily violations practiced by the Israeli occupation against the residents of occupied Jerusalem. It has also led to the destruction of 80% of the residential areas and infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, in addition to the destruction of two-thirds of the agricultural areas in Gaza, and more than two million people in dire need of urgent food and livelihood assistance.
This is happening in light of the restrictions imposed on the entry of humanitarian aid, since the first day of the genocidal war, and denying the entry of fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza, as a policy of collective punishment against all Palestinians. This, in itself, is an explicit war crime, as food is used as a weapon to starve 2.3 million Palestinians.
Because of the impunity it enjoys, Zionist colonialism is expanding its crimes, its war and terrorism to include the people of Lebanon, their homes, their land, and their fields in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa (east), displacing more than 1.3 million people - Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians - from southern Lebanon, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, and killing more than 2,350 people.
In Lebanon, most of the areas targeted by the occupation are agricultural areas, with 1,900 hectares destroyed and burned, leaving a mere 12,000 hectares of agricultural land as the source of livelihood for thousands of families and a source of food production for the rest of the Lebanese. Already, 46,000 farmers have been affected, in addition to the complete destruction of the olive season, which is a source of livelihood for the people of the south. Food products coming from the south and east have also begun to be scarce in the markets, whether fresh crops or food traditionally conserved, that people depend on, especially in the coming winter. ِ
Additionally, the Israeli army has carried out its ground invasion of Lebanon, burning, bombing and exploding whole villages, forests and agricultural lands. At the same time, our peoples in the region, who suffer from the imposition of neoliberal policies and the free market, are still unable to meet their needs and access their resources to produce food and manage them in a sustainable and affordable manner. This is due to the dependence of our ruling systems on the policies of the World Bank, and the transnational corporations that dominate our capabilities and drain our natural resources, determine our food production pattern, and hinder the achievement of our national sovereignty over food and our natural resources, in favor of foreign investments and transnational corporations, especially those that produce hybrid and genetically modified seeds and specialize in the production of agricultural toxins (pesticides and chemical fertilizers).
In light of the serious challenges we are witnessing as peoples, we must, more than ever, express our position explicitly and publicly about our rejection of these dominant and colonial policies in our region, and combine our efforts from civil society and social movements, to confront together those policies, plans and practices that aim to drain our resources, and deprive us of our rights to achieve our national food sovereignty.
We in the Food Sovereignty International Planning Committee, Near East/North Africa (IPC-NENA) express our clear and explicit defense of the rights of the peoples of our region to sovereignty over their natural resources in land and water and to determine their fate, to achieve national food sovereignty, especially our peoples in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Western Sahara, Yemen, and Sudan, who suffer from prolonged crises as a result of conflicts, wars and occupation.
We call for mobilizing advocacy efforts to support the rights of Palestinians to regain their occupied lands, and confronting the systematic policies of starving millions of people by destroying their sources of food production, and depriving them of access to their natural resources. We express our position in support of peasants, small farmers and workers in rural areas in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Western Sahara and Yemen, and their right to produce their food in the way they see fit, and to access and manage their lands, to produce food for them and their local communities.
