Two months ago (27/6/24), the Canadian government imposed sanctions on 7 settlers and 5 organizations for their involvement in acts of violence against Palestinians:
This round of sanctions lists seven individuals and five entities for their role in facilitating, supporting or financially contributing to acts of violence by Israeli extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians and their property.
One of these organizations sanctioned by the Canadian government was Amana. This organization is one of the strongest settler organizations financially, politically, and in terms of its influence on the establishment of settlements and outposts in the Occupied Territories. With assets valued at approximately NIS 600 million, and an annual budget of tens of millions of NIS, Amana is considered the “mother and father” of the illegal outposts, and in recent years also of the illegal agricultural farms that are a major factor in settler violence against Palestinians. Peace Now revealed Amana’s central role in taking over land and in the construction of illegal outposts in our 2017 report “Unraveling the Mechanism behind Illegal Outposts“.
Around the year 2018, more and more agricultural farms of settlers began to be systematically erected throughout the West Bank. They began to take control over large areas and to expel Palestinians from them. It was clear from the start that Amana was involved. This is written, for example, in a letter from the secretary of the Alon settlement who reported on the establishment of one of the farms:
“Residents of Alon, we are happy to share with you that another flock has been set up near the settlement … and Zambish of Amana were partners to carrying out the idea, financing the enterprise, and implementing it.”
In February 2021, Amana held a conference where it presented its activities in the farms. The head of Amana, Zeev Hever (Zambish), boasted there about the establishment of more than 30 farms and promised “this year another 10 such farms will be established. This is the plan.” In June 2023, he was interviewed for an issue of Yosh (Judea & Samaria) Real Estate:
“Our main task is to preserve the open areas. The main means we use is the agricultural farms” and explained that the area occupied by these farms is 2.5 times the area occupied by all the hundreds of settlements.”
Amana is not a government body. It has no duty of transparency towards the public. It likes to operate behind closed doors and cover its tracks. Despite this, Peace Now was able to obtain partial information about Amana’s activities that shows how Amana is deeply involved in the systematic establishment of illegal farms.
Logistical assistance:
Amana employs a full-time person whose role is to be a “farm coordinator”. He accompanies and helps the various farms to establish themselves and solve difficulties. By the way, at least part of the farm coordinator’s salary was funded by funds that came from the regional councils, that is, from Israeli taxpayers’ money.
Funding:
Peace Now managed to obtain only partial information about Amana’s activities, only in the Gush Etzion area, thanks to a petition submitted by the Movement for Freedom of Information. The information shows that Amana directly invested in illegal farms close to a million NIS in two years, and this was for only four farms. It can be assumed that Amana’s investment in farms in the rest of the West Bank and over the years is much more extensive:
In 2018, Amana invested NIS 52,650 in Peni Kedem Farm and 60,840 NIS in Nachal Heletz Farm. In 2019, it invested NIS 632,065 in Nachal Heletz Farm; 100,958 in Tkoa Farm; and in Mitzpe Yehuda Farm (Tzon Keidar Farm): NIS 138,109.
In addition to these investments, Amana grants farm owners loans of hundreds of thousands of shekels for the establishment of the farm (for the purchase of flocks, etc.). It also helps with the purchase of equipment. For example, Amana purchased a truck for Pnei Kedem Farm for NIS 45,000.
Amana is also involved in the establishment of farms that have been subject to international sanctions because of violence against Palestinians. For example, Amana was a key partner in the establishment of Meitarim Farm (Yinon Levy’s farm), one of the first to be imposed international sanctions after four communities of hundreds of Palestinians were expelled following violence by settlers who came from the direction of the farm.
In the contract for the establishment of the farm, which was signed between Yinon Levy and the Administration of the Meitarim Industrial Zone, Amana appears as someone who helps the farm in various areas and undertakes obligations related to the implementation of the contract. Peace Now knows of two other farms that had a similar contractual involvement to Amana.
Settlers themselves also testified about Amana’s involvement in the farms, perhaps in a moment of carelessness. In a video released by the Gush Etzion regional council following the cabinet’s decision to establish a settlement near the farm in Nachal Heletz, the head of the council Yaron Rosenthal thanks “Zambish and all the guys from Amana”. In an article published in the New Yorker in February 2024, Moriah Sharvit, the wife of Moshe Sharvit, who and his farm was subject to international sanctions because of violence against Palestinians, boasted about how the treaty “connected them to the water network”. (At this point, her husband Moshe Sharvit intervened in the interview and told her to be careful what she said).