In Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, farmer Magdy Abu Jaish walks through his greenhouse, pointing to rows of withered tomato plants, now reduced to brittle remains. “There isn’t a single green shoot left… a single spark could ignite a fire,” he says, describing the devastation caused not by drought alone, but by the destruction of the village’s lifeline: its water wells.

At the end of July, Israeli occupation forces stormed the area and filled two artesian wells with cement, confiscating pumps and equipment. One of the wells, located in Area B and officially licensed by the Palestinian Authority, had supplied water to over 120 dunams of tomato crops. The attack struck at the peak of the harvest season, wiping out livelihoods and inflicting direct losses estimated at more than two million shekels. Around 200 workers lost their only source of income overnight.

Farmers in Beit Dajan and neighbouring Beit Furik, many of whom turned to agriculture after losing jobs in the occupied territories, now find their projects deliberately sabotaged. “The occupation came and killed the season by drying up the wells,” said Abu Jaish, who had invested heavily after losing his job. The costs of seedlings, fertilisers, irrigation systems, and greenhouse infrastructure have left families drowning in debt.

Others share the same fate. Farmer Yasser Abu Khder and his seven brothers expanded their project to 10 dunams this year, only to see their entire 45-ton tomato harvest destroyed. “The project supported seven families, including university students. Now we are left with debts of 720,000 shekels,” he explained. Even emergency water provided by Nablus municipality was insufficient, barely 1.5 cups per dunam, far below the 8 cups required daily.

The head of Beit Dajan Village Council, Nasr Abu Jaish, described the well closures as a “systematic political and military targeting.” He recalled an occupation officer telling him bluntly: “We don’t want to demolish the greenhouses ourselves; we want you to destroy them with your own hands.”

For farmers in Beit Dajan, the attack is not simply about water but about the very survival of Palestinian agriculture on land eyed by settlers. With no compensation, mounting debts, and no reliable water sources, families are left to watch their dreams collapse in the dust, victims of what they describe as an organised campaign to uproot them from their land.