RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Union of Agricultural Work Committees is finalizing preparations for the launch of La Via Campesina-Palestine at a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nov. 29. Palestine will be the first Arab member of the international farmers movement La Via Campesina, also known as the International Peasants Movement.
The Union of Agricultural Work Committees became a member of La Via Campesina in 2013. Since then, it has been seeking to establish La Via Campesina-Palestine through meetings and dialogue sessions with farmers and agricultural unions, which led to the formation on Sept. 29, 2016, of a farmers committee tasked with establishing La Via Campesina-Palestine. The committee is made up of 55 representatives of all agricultural sectors and commissions.
La Via Campesina was founded in 1993 by agricultural organizations from different countries around the world as an independent movement opposed to globalization and global capitalism and its monopoly policies. The movement promotes food sovereignty as a political concept that requires sovereignty over land, resources and water, and is based on the right of nations and peoples to exploit their own resources.
La Via Campesina-Palestine relies on the vision of the international movement in advocating sovereignty over food, land, resources and water. It seeks to advocate the issues of Palestinian farmers and claim their rights violated by Israel, such as not being denied control over their own land and water resources.
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