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Jewish National Fund

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Eshtaol Forest planted by JNF

The Jewish National Fund (Hebrew: קרן קימת לישראל, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael) (abbreviated as JNF, and sometimes KKL) was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Land of Israel (later Israel) for Jewish settlement. By 2006, it owned 14% of the total land in Israel.[citation needed]

Early history

File:KKL.PNG
JNF logo

The JNF was founded at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel in 1901 with Theodore Herzl's support upon an earlier suggestion by Zvi Hermann Schapira to create an organization to buy and develop land in Palestine for Jewish settlement. The guiding principle was laid down by Prof. Hermann Schapira. Early land purchases were completed in Judea and the Lower Galilee. In 1909, the JNF supported the founders of Tel Aviv. The establishment of the “Olive Tree Fund” marked the beginning of Diaspora support of afforestation efforts. The Blue Box (pushke) has been part of the JNF since it’s inception. It represents the partnership between Israel and the Diaspora.[1] From 1902 until the late 1940s, the JNF also relied up the sale of JNF stamps to raise monies. For a brief period in May 1948, JNF stamps were actually used as postage stamps during the transition from Palestine to Israel.[2]

The JNF received its first parcel of land, 200 Turkish dunams (18 hectares) east of Hadera, as a 1903 gift from the Russian Zionist leader Issac Leib Goldberg of Vilnius. It became an olive grove.[3] In 1904 and 1905, the JNF purchased land plots near the Sea of Galilee and at Ben Shemen. In 1921, JNF land holdings reached 25,000 acres (100 km²), rising to 50,000 acres (200 km²) by 1927. At the end of 1935, JNF held 89,500 acres (362 km²) of land housing 108 Jewish communities. In 1939, 10% of the Jewish population of the British Mandate of Palestine lived on JNF land. JNF holdings by the end of the British Mandate period amounted to 936 km².[4] From the beginning, JNF's policy was to lease land long-term rather than sell it.

After statehood

After Israel's establishment in 1948, there was a debate concerning the future of the JNF. Initially the government wanted to dismantle it, but after the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 194 calling for Arab refugees to be allowed back into their homes, the JNF was seen as mechanism by which land which was previously owned by Arabs could be legally purchased by Jews. Accordingly, the government began to sell absentee lands to the JNF, left behind by former Arab owners. On January 27, 1949, 1,000 km² of this land (from a total of about 3,500 km²) was sold to the JNF for the price of 11 million pounds. Another 1,000 km² of seized land was sold to the JNF in October, 1950. Over the years questions about the legitimacy of these transactions have been raised repeatedly; Israeli legislation has generally supported the JNF's land claims.[5][6][7] In 1953, the JNF was dissolved and re-organized as an Israeli company without much essential change. A far greater change occurred in 1960, when administration of the land held by the JNF, apart from forested areas, was transferred to a newly formed government agency, the Israel Land Administration, the government agency responsible for managing 93% of the land of Israel [1]. The JNF received the right to nominate 10 of the 22 directors of the ILA, lending it significant leverage within that state body.

File:KKL.jpg
JNF collection box

The charter specifies that the purpose of the JNF is to purchase land for the settlement of Jews. In the past, this was interpreted to mean that JNF should not lease land to non-Jews, but the restriction was frequently circumvented in practice, for example, by granting one-year lease to Bedouins for pastures. In January 2005, Israel's Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled in response to a Supreme Court petition that lease restrictions violated Israeli anti-discrimination laws. In July 2007, the Israeli Knesset approved the Jewish National Fund Bill in its preliminary reading, which would authorize the JNF to resume the practice of refusing to lease land to Arab citizens.[8] However, in September 2007, the High Court of Justice agreed to delay a ruling by at least four months. A temporary settlement was reached where the JNF is prevented from discriminating on grounds of ethnicity but, every time land is sold to a non-Jew, the ILA will compensate it with an equivalent amount of land; thus ensuring the total amount of land owned by Jewish Israelis remains the same.[9]

In June 2005, an agreement was made by which the JNF would transfer a portion of its urban holdings to the state and the state would transfer rural land in the Negev of equal value to the JNF.[citation needed]

In 2007, Ra'adi Sfori became the first Arab citizen of Israel to be appointed JNF director. Three members of the JNF's General Assembly attempted to block the appointment in Jerusalem's District Court, but were unsuccessful.[10]

Reforestation work

The early JNF was also active in afforestation and reclamation of land. By 1935, JNF had planted 1.7 million trees over a total area of 1,750 acres (7.08 km²) and drained swamps, like those in the Hulah Valley. JNF has planted 240 million trees to date.

Today, tree planting continues. Due to JNF's afforestation work, Israel ended the twentieth century with more trees than it began.

During the 1980s, almost 60,000 acres (240 km2) were planted. Over 50,000 acres (200 km2) of crop-land were reclaimed and hundreds of miles of roads built. Research into soil and water conservation and the construction of dams and reservoirs took on added importance in the face of water shortages and drought. Massive land infrastructure development projects, known collectively as "Operation Promised Land," were implemented during the late 1980s to meet the challenge of the massive upsurge of Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia.[1]

Controversy

Many of the trees have been planted on the site of demolished Arab villages, after their inhabitants left or were expelled from their homes.[11] Olive trees, formerly harvested by Arabs, have also been cut down and replaced by pine and cypress trees.[12] This has caused a belief among some Israeli Arabs that the JNF afforestation policy has the aim of forcing Arab farmers off their land.[13] The JNF has announced that historical information plaques erected in JNF parks and forests will cite the names of the Arab villages formerly located there.[14]

Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award

Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award

Water reclamation

Major water issues face Israel today. The fresh water supply is wholly dependent on 50 days a year of seasonal rainfall, while Israel’s water consumption has doubled since 1960. The JNF has built 200 reservoirs around the country, and plans to build 30 more reservoirs and water treatment plants over next five years. Over the past decade, JNF has invested over $114.99 million in reservoir construction, increasing the country’s total storage capacity by 7%, to over 35 billion gallons of water.

JNF is also involved in numerous river rehabilitation projects all over Israel, including the Nahal Alexander Restoration Project in 2003. [1]

Environmental leadership

JNF’s collaborative work involves participation in the International Arid Land Consortium, which explores the problems and solutions unique to arid and semiarid regions, working to develop sustainable ecological practices as a means to improve the quality of life among people in arid regions.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Jewish National Fund of Canada". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  2. ^ Kimmerly, Ian. “Jewish National Fund issues postal substitutes” in ‘’ The Globe and Mail (Canada)’’ July 22, 1989
  3. ^ Zvi Shilony, Ideology and Settlement; The Jewish National Fund, 1897-1914, Magnes Press (1998), 119-121.
  4. ^ Walter Lehn, The Jewish National Fund, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4. (Summer, 1974), pp. 74-96.
  5. ^ A. Golan. The Transfer of Abandoned Rural Arab Lands to Jews During Israel's War of Independence, Cathedra, 63, pp. 122-154, 1992 Template:He icon. English translation: “The Transfer to Jewish Control of Abandoned Arab Land during the War of Independence,” in S.I. Troen and N. Lucas (eds), Israel, The First Decade of Independence (Albany, NY, 1995)
  6. ^ A. Barkat (February 10, 2005). "Buying the State of Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  7. ^ M. Benvenisti (May 29, 2007). "With all due respect for the 'blue box'". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  8. ^ Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan (July 19, 2007). "Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  9. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (2007-09-24). "High Court delays ruling on JNF land sales to non-Jews". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-12-20. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Israeli Arab appointed as a JNF director despite court appeal Haaretz, 5 July 2007
  11. ^ Nathan, Susan (2005). The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide. New York: Nan A. Talese. p. 130–131. ISBN 978-0385514569.
  12. ^ Nathan, Susan (2005) op cit pages 129–130
  13. ^ Nathan, Susan (2005) op cit pages 151–152
  14. ^ JNF to erect signs in parks, citing destroyed Palestinian villages - Haaretz - Israel News

See also

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