The village of Beit Duqqu in the northwest of Occupied Jerusalem is well-known for its vast pretty landscape of grapevines that are scattered on swaths of land and hilly slopes and considered a main source of livelihood for hundreds of Palestinian families.
In recent years Beit Duqqu farmers have been facing a nightmare that shattered their hope of sustaining their agricultural activity and production after illegal Jewish settlements started flooding the markets with their grapes and grape products and imposed them as a substitute for the local product.
Beit Duqqu village is the second largest producer of grapes after al-Khalil City but its grape season has seen successive setbacks and great losses in recent years because of the settlements’ products that are regularly pumped in large amounts into the West Bank markets according to farmer Adel Mufeed.
“In the villages of northwestern Jerusalem we only have Ramallah City’s markets after the doors of Jerusalem’s markets have been closed to us since 1987 but unfortunately even Ramallah’s markets are no longer able to handle our products after they have been swamped with grapes from settlements” Mufeed said.
“In order to have a good grape season the Beit Duqqu farmers work night and day on cultivating the lands and fertilizing pruning and taking care of the grapevines but in the end we do not receive any official attention to this season which would improve the economy of Jerusalem towns if the authorities dealt with this issue patriotically” the farmer affirmed.
“We do not need any assistance from officials and the competent authorities except to prevent the settlements’ grape products from entering the West Bank markets” he added.
According to Mufeed the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) does not only target the Beit Duqqu grapes by flooding the Palestinian markets with products from settlements but in recent years it has also released dozens of wild boars into vineyards.
He described the issue of wild boars as a major challenge in the absence of any attempt to eradicate them because of their large numbers and the farmers’ fear of getting arrested or penalized by the IOA for killing them.
“Wild boars damage and destroy grapevines in addition to the severe damage they cause to drystone walls which results in the farmers losing considerable effort time and money” he said.
