Holy Land: Israeli forces destroy Palestinian Seed Bank

Image: Diasphora Palestine

Source: La Via Campesina

On 31st July 2025, Israeli military forces carried out a raid on the Seed Multiplication Unit of the Palestinian Seed Bank in Hebron, operated by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). Bulldozers and military equipment were used to demolish the storage facilities, where indigenous seeds, agricultural tools, and equipment were kept for local seed reproduction.

The facility has been central to the collective effort of Palestinian farmers to preserve traditional seed varieties and ensure their ability to cultivate food on their own terms. It represents years of organized work to maintain biodiversity and secure food systems that are independent, resilient, and rooted in peasant knowledge.

La Via Campesina, the global movement of small-scale food producers, and landless workers, said in a statement that it: "raises its voice in rage and unwavering solidarity with its member organization, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and with all Palestinian farmers resisting occupation, land theft, and apartheid in their ancestral territory.

"This attack on UAWC seed bank is not an isolated incident. It is the second direct assault on UAWC in recent years, part of a broader colonial strategy to uproot Palestinian communities, displace Indigenous farmers, and suppress any form of self-determination.

"It is an expression of a wider apartheid and colonial regime, rooted in domination, displacement, and ecological destruction. It targets the very soul of our global struggle for food sovereignty, agroecology, and social justice.

"This crime occurs in direct defiance of the landmark advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 19 July 2024, which affirmed that Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza is illegal and must end immediately.

"The ICJ highlighted the grave legal consequences of Israel's systematic violations of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. This latest attack is yet another flagrant breach of international law, adding to Israel's record of violations of human rights, environmental justice, and international humanitarian law.

"La Via Campesina firmly condemns this attack.

We recognize it as a political assault on a people's right to live with dignity, care for their land, and determine their own future. We stand with UAWC and all Palestinian peasants who continue their struggle under the weight of occupation and injustice.

"We call on all our allies, movements, organizations, and international institutions around the world to:

- Condemn this crime by the Israeli occupation against UAWC, the Palestinian Seed Bank, and the broader struggle for food sovereignty in Palestine.

- Mobilize urgently in solidarity with Palestinian farmers, land defenders, and peasants who continue to resist colonial violence and uphold the right to live and work on their land.

- Demand immediate international intervention to hold the Israeli regime accountable for repeated violations of international law, including the implementation of the ICJ's ruling."

Vivien Sansour, a Palestinian writer, who runs the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, based in the diaspora, has said seed banks are not neutral repositories: they carry the DNA of memory and of resistance. She describes seed saving as political resistance - a means to preserve not just biodiversity but heritage in the face of erasure.

She said seeds are "a map to say: Look, this is who we are, this is who we were, and this is who we've been."

LINKS

La Via Campesina: https://viacampesina.org/en/
Palestine Heirlook Seed Library: https://atmos.earth/palestines-seeds-in-diaspora/