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Canada Park

Coordinates: 31°50′19″N 34°59′52″E / 31.83861°N 34.99778°E / 31.83861; 34.99778
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Canada Park (Arabic:كندا حديقة) is a national park that was established in the "no-man's land" that emerged between Jordanian and Israeli forces in the wake of the 1967 war and extends into the West Bank.[1][2][3] A recreational area, it is located west of Jerusalem, north of Highway 1 (Israel) (Tel Aviv - Jerusalem), between the Latrun intersection and Sha'ar HaGai.[4]. Its establishment and maintenance is sponsored by the Jewish National Fund of Canada. The park lies on land formerly occupied by four Palestinian villages: Dayr Ayyub, destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,[5] and Imwas, Yalo, and Bayt Nuba, destroyed and depopulated during the Six Day War.[1]

History

Imwas, Beit Nuba, and Yalo were captured by the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six-Day War. On orders of Yitzhak Rabin, the villages were immediately razed and their 14,000 inhabitants expelled.[6][7][8][9] The former inhabitants ended up in refugee camps in the West Bank and Jordan, where, according to the Palestinian Authority, most of them remain today.[10]

Canadian funding

Canada Park was built as a sign of Canadian-Israeli friendship; it was sponsored by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada, beginning in 1968. In 1973, Bernard Bloomfield of Montreal, then President of JNF Canada, spearheaded a campaign among the Canadian Jewish community to raise $15 million for the park's establishment.[11][12]

The John Diefenbaker Parkway, named for the former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who opened it in 1975, leads to the park. The project to establish the park was completed in 1984.[12]

JNF Canada remains responsible for the upkeep of the park which is funded through charitable donations. The JNF and their Canadian section have denied that the park was built on Palestinian villages.[11]

Features

Canada Park covers an area of 1275 dunums or 32,000 hectares.[13][12] The park has been landscaped with wooded areas and walking trails. Trees in the park include olive, carob, pomegranate, pine and almond. The area is also home to a range wildlife from lizards and turtles to gray ravens and blue jays.[14] Historical remains on the grounds of the park include a Roman bathhouse, a Hasmonean cemetery, a Crusader fortress (Castellum Arnaldi) and the ruins of Palestinian villages.[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Benvenisti, 2002, p. 327.
  2. ^ Kassim, 1998, p. 465.
  3. ^ Newman and Schofield, 1995, p. 16.
  4. ^ Park Canada/Ayalon
  5. ^ http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Dayr-Ayyub/index.html
  6. ^ Swedenburg, 2003 p. 61.
  7. ^ Oren, 2002, p. 307.
  8. ^ Segev, Tom (2006). 1967: Israel, the War and the Year That Transformed the Middle East, Metropolitan Books, pp. 306-309.
  9. ^ Segev, 1967, p. 82.
  10. ^ Canadian International Development Research Center: Planning in support of negotiations: the refugee issue by Khalil Nijem
  11. ^ a b http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2500957394773313398
  12. ^ a b c Columbo, 2001, p. 133.
  13. ^ Brynen, 2007, p. 128.
  14. ^ Coussin, Orna, Splendor on the grass, Israel: Haaretz, retrieved 2008-07-19
  15. ^ Winter, 2000, p. 591.
  16. ^ de Vries, Bert, http://cesc.montreat.edu/gsi/gsi-conf/mini-grants/Calvin.html Investigation into the environment of the New Palestine, Montreat College, retrieved 2008-12-14 {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help)

Bibliography

  • Benvenisti, Meron (2002). Sacred Landscape. University of California Press. ISBN 0520234227, 9780520234222. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Brynen, Rex; El-Rifai, Roula (2007). Palestinian Refugees Challenges of Repatriation and Development: challenges of repatriation and development. Canada: International Development Research Centre. ISBN 1552502317.
  • Colombo, John Robert (2001). 1000 questions about Canada: places, people, things, and ideas : a question-and-answer book on Canadian facts and culture. Dundurn Press Ltd. ISBN 0888822324, 9780888822321. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Anis F. Kassim, Shaybani Society of International Law (1998). The Palestine yearbook of international law. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9041110097, 9789041110091. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • David Newman, Clive Schofield (1995). Boundaries in Flux: The 'Green Line' Boundary Between Israel and the West Bank - Past, Present and Future. IBRU. ISBN 189764325X, 9781897643259. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Swedenburg, Ted (2003). Memories of revolt: the 1936-1939 rebellion and the Palestinian national past. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1557287635, 9781557287632. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Winter, Dave (2000). Israel Handbook: With the Palestinian Authority Areas. Canada: Footprint Handbooks. ISBN 1900949482.

31°50′19″N 34°59′52″E / 31.83861°N 34.99778°E / 31.83861; 34.99778

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