Green Sunday” call by Zionist group denounced by campaigners Jewish National Fund Struggles for Funds and Credibility
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- Published on Friday, 03 February 2012 22:33
PNN
This Sunday, 5th February sees the Jewish National Fund (JNF), in perhaps its last year holding charity status in the UK, fundraising for what it refers to as "Green Sunday". Jewish organisations, green groups and campaigners for Palestinian human rights have condemned the JNF greenwashing of ethnic cleansing and urged people to push for the group's charitable status to be revoked.
The JNF, known for planting forests and parks over the land of destroyed Palestinian villages, will also hope to salvage the last of its fast-declining credibility after 2011 saw a huge loss of face for the supposed environmental charity. May 2011 saw David Cameron step down as honorary patron of the organisation, the first time in its 111 year history in which the British Prime Minister does not hold this position; Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg also set an important precedent by refusing to become patrons. Although the Prime Minister's office cited a lack of time, the move came just months after an Early Day Motion (EDM 1677) was raised in parliament, calling for David Cameron to stand down, and just two weeks after receiving a letter from the Stop the JNF campaign.
The news reverberated around the world: in Bethlehem's Aida Refugee Camp, Salah Ajarma was "delighted to hear the news that the British Prime Minister [had] decided to withdraw his support for this sinister organisation involved in ethnic cleansing. My village, Ajjur, was taken by force from my family and given to the JNF who used money from JNF UK to plant the British Park on its ruins. For the Palestinians who were evicted from their villages and have been prevented from returning, Cameron's withdrawal is another victory on the road to achieving justice and freedom for the Palestinians".
The JNF was created in 1901 to acquire land and property rights in Palestine and beyond for exclusive Jewish settlement, a concept established and promoted in the JNF's charter to exclude all others. Its grim history of stealing Palestinian land and forcibly removing the residents suggests something of a contradiction with the tax-deductible privileges it enjoys as a charity supposedly doing "good works". EDM 1677 further calls for the revocation of the JNF's charitable status in the UK and is still garnering support, with the 61st MP (Andy Slaughter, Hammersmith) signing last week.
On this "Green Sunday" the JNF calls for help to "continue to...support the projects that make the Naqab (Negev) a liveable place". The irony of this statement will not be lost on members of the Bedouin who have lived and farmed in the area for hundreds of years. The JNF recently hit the headlines for its role in demolishing Bedouin villages: Al-Araqib has been destroyed 34 times since July 2010 with families forced to seek shelter in the village cemetery. This despite an ongoing legal challenge to the Israeli authorities who refuse to recognise proof of land ownership dating back to the Ottoman empire. A statement from the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality highlighted the most recent JNF actions: "On Sunday, 22 January, the JNF established a new work camp close to Al Araqib and south of the cemetery. Residents are anxious that it may be preparing to plant in the former village which is now completely covered by terraces of earth, as much of the land surrounding the village has now been planted".
As a result of the sustained scrutiny the JNF faces there are now over 130 international endorsements of the Stop the JNF call. In October the Scottish Green Party unanimously passed a motion rejecting the JNF's violations of human rights and called for the revocation of its charitable status.
Last year also saw the establishment of the Plant-a-Tree in Palestine Project, aimed at raising awareness of the JNF's tree planting activities on former Palestinian villages in Israel and offering an innovative opportunity for non-violent resistance within Palestine in the form of re-claiming destroyed land. The first tree-planting action took place in Tulkarem in the West Bank on January 2nd 2012. The planting, undertaken by local villagers, residents of the nearby refugee camp, Stop the Wall the Palestinian grassroots campaign, the Independent Youth Movement, Trade Unions and members of the international Stop the JNF delegation, took place on a piece of land previously destroyed by Israeli troops for "security reasons". Each of the 111 trees that were planted, one for each year of the JNF's existence, were named after a Palestinian village destroyed in 1948.
