The Impact of Israeli Occupation and Settlement Expansion on the Agricultural Sector in the West Bank

This thesis investigates the impact of Israeli occupation on the Palestinian economy, with a particular focus on the agricultural sector. Framed within Settler Colonial Theory, it argues that occupation policies-especially land confiscation, settlement expansion, and mobility restrictions-are not temporary measures but part of a broader strategy aimed at dispossession, dependency, and the restructuring of Palestinian economic life. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of data from sources such as the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the World Bank with qualitative insights drawn from literature, policy documents, and questionnaires distributed to farmers in key governorates, including Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus. Quantitative findings, processed through SPSS, highlight significant declines in agricultural productivity, employment, and income due to land loss and restricted access to resources. The qualitative component enriches the analysis, revealing how these economic pressures translate into social vulnerability, displacement, and the erosion of collective resilience. The results demonstrate that agriculture is the sector most severely affected by Israeli occupation policies, exposing a strong correlation between territorial dispossession and deepening economic dependency. By centering agriculture in the analysis, the thesis contributes a new perspective to the study of settler colonialism in Palestine, highlighting how economic de-development - particularly in the agricultural sector- is not a collateral outcome but a deliberate instrument of control.