Zeena Al Jaajaa Discusses the Role of Colonial Infrastructures in Dismantling the Palestinian Agricultural Sector at Delft University
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APN| Amman – Zoom

24 June 2024

At the invitation of a group of faculty members and PhD students from the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (TU Delft), Engineer Zeena Al Jaajaa, the CEO and Head of Design Department of "Sanabel", the incubator company of APN, spoke at a special event at the university. She discussed how colonial infrastructures enabled the Zionist occupation to establish its project in Palestine and consolidate control over public and natural spaces there.

Al Jaajaa highlighted the colonial engineering used to dismantle the Palestinian agricultural sector through organized and systematic warfare on resources and agricultural infrastructure. This approach not only undermines Palestinians' existence on their land as a place for life but also as a source of food, in addition to its moral value to them. She highlighted the methods used by the occupation to seize land, such as uprooting trees to facilitate confiscation under the Absentee Property Law, preventing farmers from accessing their orchards, and bombarding and bulldozing agricultural lands, as seen in Gaza.

She pointed out that the settler-colonial state was established on lands belonging to Palestinians and highlighted how altering the natural landscape in Palestine, as pursued by the occupation through projects like greening the Naqab and others, aimed at displacing Palestinians from their lands. These efforts also introduced invasive species into desert ecosystems, which are unsuitable for the climate, leading to annual wildfires and the destruction of many reptiles and insects that lost their natural habitats.

Zeena concluded her talk with recommendations for the attendees to pressure decision-makers to halt the genocide in Gaza, and to end the blockade and Israeli colonial settlement in Palestine using all necessary means. She called for the prohibition of weapons, energy, and all forms of trade with the occupation, and for imposing sanctions on Israel and all complicit nations in its crimes. Additionally, she emphasized supporting agriculture and food sovereignty at all times, mentioning APN's project in Gaza, "Revive Gaza's Farmland" as a response to the war of starvation.