Peasant organizations who are members of the Arab and North Africa Region (ArNA) of La Via Campesina has dedicated a full week of mobilizations (April 17–24) to express solidarity with Palestine, especially its farmers and fisherfolk who are resisting under genocidal war. The people of Gaza and the West Bank have been subjected to extreme genocide, mass killings, starvation, and displacement. Farmers are cut off from their lands, crops are destroyed, and fishers are under constant fire. This is a systematic campaign to destroy a people and their food sovereignty. In response, ArNa Region has launched an international petition addressed to UN bodies and global civil society, calling for an end to the war, siege, and occupation. Here is the full text, with an option to sign on at the end of the page;

On the occasion of April 17 — the International Day of Peasant Struggles — we, the undersigned organizations, express our unwavering solidarity with Palestinian farmers, rural communities, fishers, and herders who face an existential threat to their land, lives, and livelihoods under a brutal system of settler colonialism and Israeli military occupation.

In Gaza, the Israeli occupation has resorted to systematic bombardment and the weaponization of food, deliberately enforcing starvation. These attacks have led to the complete destruction of agricultural land and related infrastructure, resulting in the collapse of local food systems. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian farmers are forced to abandon their lands due to the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, violent settler assaults, land confiscations, and severe movement restrictions imposed by the occupying army.

We affirm that Palestinian farmers have the right to land, seeds, water, biodiversity, food sovereignty, and self-determination, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018. In particular, we highlight the following rights enshrined in the declaration, which continue to be systematically violated in Palestine:

  • Articles 1 and 2: The right to be free from discrimination and violence, and the right to participate in public policies affecting their lives.
  • Articles 5 and 17: The right to land, water, and other natural resources essential for a dignified life.
  • Articles 6 and 15: The right to life, liberty, and security, and the right to food and food sovereignty.
  • Article 12: The right to freedom of movement, particularly in accessing land, grazing areas, and markets.
  • Articles 19 and 20: The right to seeds, traditional knowledge, and biodiversity.

As we commemorate the International Day of Peasant Struggles, we remember the massacre of landless peasants in 1996 in the Eldorado dos Carajás region of Brazil, during their fight for comprehensive land reform. This tragic event exemplifies the countless struggles of farmers worldwide who risk everything to feed humanity.

Today, we call on the international community to:

  1. Support Palestinian farmers in their struggle to return to and remain on their land in the face of settler violence, apartheid policies, and forced displacement.
  2. Demand an immediate end to the destruction of agricultural and food infrastructure in Gaza, and ensure urgent reconstruction in consultation with Palestinian farmers and peasant unions.
  3. Hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its violations of international law and the rights guaranteed under United Nations human rights frameworks.
  4. Stand with grassroots movements advocating for food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the dignity of farmers in Palestine and globally.
  5. Take tangible steps to halt the ongoing genocide in Gaza, including ensuring immediate and unconditional access for humanitarian aid and enforcing an arms embargo on the occupying forces, whose weapons are used to commit crimes against the Palestinian people — including farmers.
  6. Call for the prosecution of Israeli leaders in international courts, demand compliance with the rulings of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and ensure accountability for crimes against the Palestinian people.
  7. Urge all progressive and liberatory organizations worldwide to pressure their governments to implement international arrest warrants against war criminal Netanyahu and his aides, and to arrest and prosecute all those complicit in the genocide — including soldiers and political leaders.
  8. Advance the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and escalate all boycott campaigns against companies that support or profit from the Zionist entity.

Farmers are not only food producers — they are defenders of land, culture, and life.
 We honor the courage of Palestinian farmers who continue to resist by planting and growing amid unimaginable destruction. Their struggle is our struggle.

Sign the petition and help amplify the voices of Palestinian farmers and rural communities fighting for justice, sovereignty, and survival.