Alma Selvaggia Rinaldi
Driving in Palestine 48’, or present-day Israel, one can observe the KKL-JNF blue and green signs along the road. KKL stands for Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael, the Hebrew name given to the Israeli branch of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The JNF is a non-profit organisation established in 1901 at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel, with the objective “to purchase, take on lease or in exchange or otherwise acquire any lands, forests, rights of possession and other rights in the prescribed region [Palestine and surrounding areas] … for the purpose of settling Jews on such lands”.
It did not take long for the colonial nature of the organisation to become evident. Yet, at the same time, the amount of land controlled by the JNF and other Zionist organisations, seven percent at the time of the British Mandate quickly covered ninety percent of Palestinian land. Indeed, from its beginnings, one of the core objectives of the organisation was to acquire land for Jewish families moving to Palestine. The land would often be purchased from landowners living abroad and sold to Jewish immigrants, consequently dispossessing Palestinians from their homes. For a large part, these operations were facilitated by the Israeli military, who, after taking Palestinian land by force, would administer the acquired territories’ ownership to the JNF. The government of Israel passed specific laws, such as the Absentee Law passed in 1950 by the Finance Ministry, enabling these operations.
The JNF is a greenwashing tool supporting Zionist settlement expansionism seeking legitimacy in its claims of ecological sustainability and tree-planting. Moreso, the JNF finds support and funding opportunities in several Western countries, such as Canada and the USA. Considering foreign engagement in understanding how this systematic oppression is enacted is important: the state of Israel, like any other state, does not have the right to interfere with the status of citizens who are not directly under its jurisdiction. Yet, the charitable and NGO status of the JNF allows for the continuous support of Zionism on a practical, ideological and financial level.
When engaging in this project of “Judaisation” closely tied to Israeli Zionism, the JNF’s environmental activities have proved to be dangerous and destructive.
With the purpose of erasing Palestinian history and identity from the lands it operates in, the JNF plants non-indigenous trees across Palestinian Territories which growth is incompatible with Palestinian climate, while eradicating olive trees typical of Palestinian landscapes. This can be traced back to the very origins of the JNF. In 1948-9, the establishment of the Israeli state involved an ethnic cleansing of between 750 000 and 1 million Palestinians and the systematic destruction of more than 400 Palestinian villages. Immediately after, the JNF embarked in a project to plant large forests in Palestinian areas to get rid of any ruin or remembrance of Palestinian society, allowing Israel to re-appropriate Palestinian territories.
The JNF’s disguise as an environmental charity must be challenged for it to be held accountable for its human rights violations, and to uphold the human rights of all individuals living in the affected territories. As the words of Mahmoud Darwish reveal with honesty,
Exile is more than a geographical concept. You can be an exile in your homeland, in your own house, in a room.
LSESU AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 