michaellevinmusic  

Imwas, by Palestinian artist Nabil Anani
[watercolor on paper, 1989]

Click on the image below to view the CBC

documentary “Park with No Peace,” which 

examines the history of Canada Park, and

the Jewish National Fund’s role in 

“greenwashing” destruction,

dispossession, and ethnic cleansing.

["Canada Park - Park With No Peace";

CBC - The Fifth Estate; Produced By Neil

Docherty [30:38, 1993]

Four pictures taken from the same 

place, with Abu 'Ubayda's Shrine in the 

foreground, showing Imwas in 1958, 

the village completely erased by 1968, 

and the area forested with the 

development of Canada Park, 1978/1988. 

Pictures taken by Pierre Medebielle    

1958

1968

1978

1988

“Three Palestinian villiages are buried under Canada Park.” “In this video, Heidar Abougosh, who was born in the village [Emwas], describes his memory of the events. He also expresses the hope that one day they will be allowed to return to live along side Jews “like normal people.” [2:58, January 2, 2015]

Memory of the Cactus. “A 42 minute documentary film that combines the cactus and the memories it stands for. The film addresses the story of the destruction of the Palestinian villages of Latroun in the Occupied West Bank and the forcible transfer of their civilian population in 1967. Over 40 years later, the Israeli occupation continues, and villagers remain displaced.”  —  Al-Haq. Directed by Hanna Musleh; Assistant Director Lillia Arsanova. Produced by Al-Haq (Human Rights Legal Advocacy Organization) [41:31, 2008].

Canadian Jews Oppose the Jewish National Fund. Produced by Independent Jewish Voices - Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes
Canada as part of their campaign “Expose the Jewish National Fund (JNF).” [6:55, 2011]

Traveling On Ruins. "Ayalon Canada Park is full of cyclists and hikers who enjoy the scenery and the weather, but few know the story of the three Palestinian villages that were demolished in 1967 on which the park sits.”  —  Israel Social TV  [Hebrew with English subtitles, 5:12, December 11, 2013]

• Further Reading about Canada Park

Abughoush, Ahmad. “Interview: Ahmas Abughoush: 'Imwas: Canada Park's Concealed Crime,'” Badil Resource Center, 2010.

Al-Ghubari, Umar. "Turning entire Palestinian villages invisible. Israeli signs in the West Bank not only ignore destroyed Palestinian villages, they also erase those in plain sight,” +972,  June 16, 2016.

Al-Ghubari, Umar. “What is Martin Luther King's name doing in the ruins of a Palestinian village? The civil rights leader’s name mysteriously appears on a plaque dedicated to donors who contributed money to building a Jewish National Fund national park — on top of three destroyed Palestinian villages,” +972, March 6, 2016. [Originally appeared in Hebrew on Haokets; translated by Richard Flantz; also available on the website for Zochrot.]

Al-Haq. “Displacement, Destruction and Appropriation: The Palestinian Villages of Latroun 40 Years after 1967,” June, 2007 [legal brief].

Aparicio, Eitan Bronstein. “Mapping what’s been lost,” Mondoweiss, June 12, 2014.

Aparicio, Eitan Bronstein. “75% of visitors to Israel’s Canada Park believe it is located inside the Green Line (it’s not),” Mondoweiss, June 25, 2014.
[Translation to English: Charles Kamen. This post originally appeared on the Zochrot website]

Aparicio, Eitan Bronstein. “Zochrot’s success in challenging Israel’s exclusive identity,” Mennonite Central Committee [MCC], November 28, 2013. [Translation to English: Charles Kamen]

The Association for Reconstruction of Emmaus. “Reconstruct Emmaus,” Palestine Remembered, March 25, 2001. [Includes Amos Kenan's "Report on the razing of Emmaus, Beit Nuba and Yalu in 1967."]

Badil: Ongoing Nakba Resource Center. Imwas. [Web page including the short documentary “Imwas,” (5:44, 2012) featuring an edited interview with Umar al-Ghubari of Zochrot, and “Latrun Enclave: Preventing the Right of Return & the Role of the JNF,” an audio report also featuring Palestinian activist Umar al-Ghubari of Zochrot.]

Berger, Yotam. "Israeli Farms Illegally Cultivating Hundreds of Acres of Palestinian Land Across Border; Moshavim around Latrun working some 370 acres of West Bank land that was handed to them by government authority in the 1980s; Palestinians torn on whether to fight in Israeli High Court of Justice,“ Ha'aretz, October 7, 2016.

Bernstein, Nat S. [President, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol-Tifereth Israel Synagague] and Hilner, Ben C. [Chairman, Synagogue Liaison, JNF of Montreal], [Yom Kippur appeal for funds to “help complete the Grove in Canada Park” and assurance that Canadian income tax receipts will be issued for contributions], September 1984. Available as part of the downloadable pdf “Obsequious Canadian Govt's Complicity in a War Crime: Dossier on Canada Park.”

Cook, Jonathan. “Canada Park and Israeli 'memoricide,'” Electronic Intifada, March 10, 2009.

Cook, Jonathan. “Canadian ambassador honoured at illegal park,” The National, June 18, 2009.

Davis, Uri. “Apartheid Israel and the Jewish National Fund of Canada: The Story of 'Imwas, Yalu, Beit Nuba and Canada Park,” Address at Carleton University, Ottawa, September 24, 2004. [Downloadable pdf.] Also available here.

Earley, Mel. “Canada Park; Peace will be possible when we acknowledge the wrongs of the past, embrace truth, and seek forgiveness and reconciliation,” Peace is Possible Stories [blog], January 5, 2017.

Engler, Yves. “Canada and the JNF, Real progressives must challenge the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund,” The Mark, November 9, 2010.

Engler, Yves. “Internal documents show Canadian tax agency protected Jewish National Fund from scrutiny,” Electronic Intifada, April 21, 2013.

Gadzo, Mersiha. "Canada Park, a popular picnicking spot for Israelis, created upon the rubble of Palestinian homes,” Mondoweiss, June 19, 2017.

Haiven, Ph.D., Larry [Saint Mary's University, Halifax]. “Jewish National Fund part of the peace-killing process,” Canadian Arabs and Jews for a Just Peace, 2014.

Hepburn, Bob. “Wiped Off The Map: Park funded by Canadian Jews hides ruins of Arab villages,” The Toronto Star, October 6, 1991. Available as part of the downloadable pdf "Obsequious Canadian Govt's Complicity in a War Crime: Dossier on Canada Park.”

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “JNF Canada sponsored projects seizing land in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” downloadable 11 page handout, June, 2017.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “What is the Jewish National Fund? Canada: Cancel the JNF Charitable Tax Status,” March 24, 2011.

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network [IJAN]. “Greenwashing Apartheid: the Jewish National Fund's Environmental Cover Up,”  JNF eBook, Vol. 4, May 15, 2011. [Greenwashing Apartheid: the Jewish National Fund’s Environmental Cover Up is a full historical and environmental analysis of the JNF’s role in the colonization of Palestine and the ways in which it greenwashes ethnic cleansing through tree plantings and environmentalism. Click here for a downloadable version, or email IJAN at ijsn@ijan.net for information on ordering a print version.]

Kawas, Hanna. “Interview with Heider Abu Ghosh: Uncovering Canada Park,”  Voice of Palestine—Canada, radio interview recorded April 2, 2016. ["Heider is a survivor from Imwas village, one of the 3 Palestinian villages destroyed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces, on the ruins of which the Jewish National Fund built Canada Park. The discussion covers Heider’s personal experiences, the complicity of the Jewish National Fund and the Canadian government that grants it tax deductible status…”]

Kepler, Tania. “Palestinian refugees supporters protest Canada Park,” Alternative Information Center [AIC], February 21, 2011.

Kestler-D'Amours, Jillian. “Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba: Refugee calls out Canada's role,” [Interview with Ahmad Abu Ghosh], JkdAmours, March 31, 2011.

Kestler-D'Amours, Jillian. “Postcard from Jerusalem: Seeking the hidden history of Canada Park,” This Magazine, August 14, 2011.

Larson, Peter. “Is the City of Ottawa linked to a 50 year old war crime in Palestine? Perhaps…" Canada Talks Israel-Palestine [blog], January 2, 2015.

Levine, Corrie. “Israel: It is time to renounce 'Canada Park,'” The Canadian Charger, March 31, 2011.

M., Ramona. “Canada's Role in Whitewashing Ethnic Cleansing Met with Protests [in Ramallah and Tel Aviv],” International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), February 22, 2011.

Palestine Land Society. “Jewish National Fund's Violation of International and Domestic Law,” [Report] August 2005

Palestine Remembered. “Bayt Nuba.”

Palestine Remembered. “Imwas.” 

Palestine Remembered. “Yalu.”

Rosenfeld, Jesse. “Grass stains on Canada's hands; Why are feds subsidizing the refurbishment of a park built on razed Palestinian towns?” Now Toronto, December 20-27, 2007.

School for Peace at Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam. “Commemorating the three Latrun villages of Imwas, Yalu, and Beit Nuba,” Zochrot, July 6, 2003.

Simblist, Noah. “Trouble in Paradise: The Erasure of Memory in Canada Park,” pdf [downloadable] of pp. 246- 261 of Pidgin Magazine, #10, 2011

Social TV. “Watch: 'Canada Park' built on destroyed Palestinian villages,” +972, December 17, 2013. [Video in Hebrew, with English subtitles, broadcast 12/11/13, 5:12]

Stern, Yoav. “If there already is a sign in the park - there will also be a mention of the destroyed Palestinian village: The organization that supports the right of return succeeded in convincing the Jewish National Fund (JNF),” Haaretz, February, 2008.

Wolfson, Carmelle. “Planting Over Palestine: There’s a massive park in the Occupied Territories, built on the ruins of destroyed villages—and it’s named after the Canadians who funded it,” Maisonneuve, September 21, 2011.

Yoaz, Yuval. “The Palestinian Past of Canada Park is Forgotten in JNF Signs,” Haaretz, June 12, 2005. [Trans. Talia Fried]

Zayid, Dr. Ismail. “Canada Park: Canadian Complicity in a War Crime,” Outlook [published by Canadian Jewish Outlook Society], September-October 2001. Also available as part of the downloadable pdf "Obsequious Canadian Govt's Complicity in a War Crime: Dossier on Canada Park.” 

Zayid, Dr. Ismail. “My Personal Story: A Story of Dispossession and Suffering,” submission before the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Zochrot. “Procession of Return to Villages of Latrun,” June, 2007.

Zochrot. “Remembering Imwas, Yalu, and Bayt Nuba,” June 2007. Booklet available as a free, downloadable pdf here.

Zochrot. “The signs are posted,” March, 2006.

JNF's ‘Negev Gala’ Brings Street Theatre to Winnipeg (JNF demo; May 27, 2013)

• Recent articles about the Canadian government and the JNF

Al-Haq and Zochrot. “To the University of Ontario, re: 2008 Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner and Award,” February 19, 2008. [Correspondence]

Alaluf, Yaara Benger. "Why does the JNF still exist? The forefathers of Zionism never hid their desire to use the Jewish National Fund to dispossess Palestinians. On its 120th anniversary, now is the time to abolish it,” +972, July 8, 2022.

Arria, Michael. "84% of Canadians think the ICC should investigate Israeli officials over alleged war crimes,” Mondoweiss, September 16, 2020.[“This demonstrates that Canada’s tendency to apply double standards when it comes to Israel is very unpopular with Canadians,” IJV’s National Coordinator Corey Balsam"]

Baird, John. “Baird: Canada stands by Israel’s side,” November 20, 2012. [John Baird is the Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean. Baird was honoured by the Jewish National Fund in Ottawa on November 20, 2012. These are the prepared remarks for his address to the Negev Dinner.]

Baroud, Ramzy and Romana Rubeo. “Palestine is Still the Issue”: UN Vote Exposes, Isolates Canada," Dissident Voice, August 21, 2020. ["Shortly before the June vote on new Security Council members was held, a group of human rights activists circulated a letter to all UN members, detailing Canada’s poor record on Palestine.  “Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage,” the letter read. It added, “Since coming to power, the Justin Trudeau government has voted against more than 50 UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights, even though they have been backed by the overwhelming majority of member states.” Among the signatories of the letter were renowned American intellectual, Noam Chomsky, famed rock star, Roger Waters and former Quebec National Assembly member, Amir Khadir.”]

Bodnaruk, Candice. "Jewish National Fund Gala Met With Protest in Manitoba,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August/September 2019. ["The JNF protest, an annual event of Independent Jewish Voices-Manitoba, included participants from Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba and Mennonite Central Committee-Manitoba. Independent Jewish Voices-Manitoba also handed out postcards about their ongoing campaign requesting the Canada Revenue Agency cancel the charitable tax status of the Jewish National Fund.”]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “Criticizing Israel isn’t anti-Semitic, say 80 percent of Canadians,” Electronic Intifada, October 15, 2020.

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “84 Percent of Canadians Want War Crimes Probe Into Israel. Poll after poll shows a stark conflict with the ruling Liberal Party’s close alliance with Israel and the general opinions of the Canadian population across the political spectrum,” Common Dreams, September 18, 2020.

Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign: Vancouver Coast Salish Territories.
“Annual protest against the JNF highlights Canadian complicity with Israeli apartheid,” June 10, 2013.

Canada Palestine Association.

The Canadian Press. “Stephen Harper to be feted for support of Israel at Negev dinner, Bird sanctuary in Israel to be named after Harper,” November 30, 2013.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East [CJPME]. “List of Canadian Organizations Applying Economic Pressure on Israel,” June 13, 2015. 

Corrigan. Edward. “Should the Jewish National Fund be entitled to Charitable Tax Status?” Outlook, September-October, 2008.

Corrigan, Edward. "The JNF: Charitable tax status for racism?” Rabble.ca, April 9, 2008. ["Former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Meron Benvenisti, wrote in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz on June 29, 2006, "It's well known that the 'national institutions' - the Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund - primarily exist to enable institutional discrimination based on ethnicity while clearing the state from accusations that it deviates from universal norms common to liberal democracies.”]

Dyer, Evan. "Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military,” CBC, January 4, 2019. ["The Jewish National Fund of Canada, one of the country's long-established charities, has been the subject of a Canada Revenue Agency audit over a complaint that it used charitable donations to build infrastructure for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in violation of Canada's tax rules….Documents produced by JNF Canada's Israeli parent organization, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF), shed additional light on military projects funded by its Canadian affiliate.”]

Engler, Yves. “Big lies about boycotting Israel in Canada,” Electronic Intifada, December 18, 2015.

Engler, Yves. “Campaign to revoke the Jewish National Fund of Canada’s Charitable Status,” June 29, 2016.

Engler, Yves. “Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid,” radio interview [20:33] on Redeye: Vancouver Cooperative Radio, March, 2010. Yves Engler's book, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, is available online. [“This book is the first critical primer about Canada’s ties to Israel. It is a devastating account of Canadian complicity in 20th and 21st century colonialism, dispossession and war crimes. The book documents the history of Canadian Christian Zionism, Lester Pearson’s important role in the United Nations negotiations to create a Jewish state on Palestinian land, the millions of dollars in tax-deductable donations used to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service ties to Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad).”] Articles and interviews with Yves Engler dealing with Canada and Israel are available on his website.

Engler, Yves. “Canada’s Political Parties Enable Israel’s Oppression of Palestinians,” Dissident Voice, November 22, 2016.

Engler, Yves. “Canada’s double standards,” Electronic Intifada, January 13, 2011.

Engler, Yves. “Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper Raising Funds for Racist Organization,” Global Research, November 30, 2013.

Engler, Yves. “Canada’s tax-deductible support for Israel’s crimes,” Electronic Intifada, August 22, 2014. 

Engler, Yves. “Does Harper Support JNF’s Racist Land Use Policies?” The Palestine Chronicle, October 23, 2013.

Engler, Yves. “Has Canada’s love affair with Israel reached its climax?” Electronic Intifada, September 18, 2015.

Engler, Yves. “How the Jewish National Fund lobbies for war,”  Electronic Intifada, March 8, 2017.

Engler, Yves. “Internal documents show Canadian tax agency protected
Jewish National Fund from scrutiny,” Electronic Intifada, April 24, 2013.

Engler, Yves. “Jewish National Fund: Teaching Children an Exclusive, Religious/Ethnic Nationalism,” Dissident Voice, March 14, 2017.

Engler, Yves. “The Lands of the Jewish National Fund, Nothing Charitable About JNF,” CounterPunch, April 26-28, 2013.

Engler, Yves. “Progressive Canadians must challenge JNF's charitable status,” Electronic Intifada, November 1, 2010. [Also see Yves Engler, "A Sad Spectacle: Canada and the Jewish National Fund," CounterPunch, November 2, 2010.]

Engler, Yves. “Why is Canada’s NDP supporting Israeli racism?” Electronic Intifada, May 25, 2017.

Engler, Yves. “Zionism is part of Canada’s political fabric,” Electronic Intifada, January 7, 2014.

Gindin, Matthew. "Why I no longer donate to the Jewish National Fund. My pushke is still somewhere in my house, but I will no longer be putting coins in it,” ricochet, January 17, 2019.

Haiven, Judy. “Halifax activists picket Negev Dinner and Jewish National Fund (JNF),” Halifax Media Coop, May 22, 2014

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “Expose the JNF,” (downloadable brochure). [2011?]

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “Government Stonewalling and Possibly Spying to Shield Controversial Charity,” June 19, 2013.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. "Minister of National Revenue: Revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status!” [petition], 2017.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “Nikki Yanofsky: Support equal rights by cancelling your gigs for the discriminatory Jewish National Fund (JNF),” [petition], 2014.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada. “What is the Jewish National Fund?” [2011?]

Jabir, Humera. “An honour Stephen Harper should have reconsidered: A recent appearance by the prime minister at a National Jewish Fund gala was a chance for him to critically assess where he lends his support – an opportunity he missed,” The Star, December 8, 2013.

Jewish National Fund Pacific Region. “JNF park named after [former Canadian minister of foreign affairs] Baird,” Jewish Independent, June 19, 2015.

Johnson, Pat. “Gillerman [former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations]: “call a spade a spade,” Jewish Independent, February 13, 2015.

Kattenberg, Dave. “JNF’s ‘Negev Gala’ brings street theatre to Winnipeg,” Mondoweiss, May 29, 2014.

Kestler-D'Amours, Jillian. “Jewish National Fund Challenged for Complicity in Ethnic Cleansing,” The Dominion, April 6, 2011.

Kilbarda, Kole and Hazem Jamjoun. “Campaign Targets Jewish National Fund (JNF) Charitable Status in Canada,” Gaza Disengagement – Ongoing Displacement (Spring 2005)

Larson, Peter. “Why is this young Jewish man opposed to the Jewish National Fund of Canada?” Canada Talks Israel-Palestine [blog], November 26, 2014.

Levitan, Tyler. "Canada Plays A Part In Sustaining Israel's Military Occupation,” Huffington Post, June 6, 2017.

Lynk, Michael, Rebecca Coulter, David Heap and Randa Farah [University of Ontario professors], “JNF Award Incompatible with Diversity & Tolerance,” CAUT Bulletin, [2009?]

Menkes, Ashley. “Jewish National Fund to honour Stephen Harper for ‘outstanding support’ of Israel at Negev Dinner in Toronto,” National Post [Canada]. November 28, 2013.

Madondo, Obert. “Green Party of Canada asks CRA to revoke Jewish National Fund’s charity status,” Canadian Progressive, June 3, 2016. [CRA: Canada Revenue Agency; Canada Green Party resolution: Revoking the Charitable Status of the Jewish National Fund Canada (JNF)]

Massad, Joseph. "Jewish National Fund: A century of land theft, belligerence and erasure. The organisation demanding financial compensation from a group representing its own victims has pursued the erasure of Palestinian geography and presence on the land for a century,” Middle East Eye, February 1, 2023.

Mivasair, Rabbi David. “Jewish National Fund: Not what you think it is,” Independent Jewish Voices Canada, 2012.

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign. “Protesting the JNF: Community Groups Oppose Fundraising for Illegal “Canada Park,” December 8, 2007.

Petersburg, Ofer. “Canada: PM plays rock n' roll for Israel, Palestinians protest: Toronto's richest Jews gather for annual JNF dinner with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper as guest of honor, while hundreds of Palestinians protest Israel's 'appartheid policies,' YNet, December 2, 2013.

Rosenfeld, Jesse. “Grass stains on Canada’s hands: Why are feds subsidizing the refurbishment of a park built on razed Palestinian towns?” NOW Magazine [Toronto], December 21, 2007. 

Shaath, Dr. Nabeel. “Analysis: How Stephen Harper weakened Canada's status in Palestine,” Ma'an News Agency, January 27, 2014.

Shezaf, Hagar. "Israel Recruited the Jewish National Fund to Secretly Buy Palestinian Land for Settlers. Haaretz reveals details of a series of deals carried out by Himanuta, a Jewish National Fund subsidiary, in the West Bank, one of which involved the Defense Ministry. The Bakri house in Hebron, for example, was bought for settlers who had squatted there, and other deals too reflect behavior both problematic and questionable,” Haaretz, July 15, 2021.

Shuster, Harold. “On Nakba Day, we continue to expose the Jewish National Fund in Canada,” rabble.ca, May 15, 2014.

Smith, Marie-Danielle. "Greens add support for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel to official party policies,” National Post [Canada], August 7, 2016.

Smith, Marie-Danielle. "Greens remove reference to Jewish group in new policy to revoke status of charities that violate human rights,” National Post [Canada], August 6, 2016. ["Another resolution being voted on Sunday morning could result in even stronger backlash if adopted. It would add support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel to the Green policy book. If it passes, it will put the Green Party at odds with a House of Commons motion from earlier this year.”]

Spurgatis, Kevin. “'Palestinian Jew' [Dr. Uri Davis] condemns Canada Park, Jewish National Fund,” Catholic New Times, October 10, 2004.

Stop the JNF Toronto. “Activists disrupt Jewish National Fund Negev campaign kickoff in Toronto,” Mondoweiss, September 29, 2014.

Sucharav, Mira. “Canadian PM Stephen Harper Displays Lockstep Friendship With Israel at JNF Dinner,” The Daily Beast, December 4, 2013.

Tarachansky, Lia. “JNF Honors Canadian PM Amidst Protests Against Bedouin Expulsion; The Jewish National Fund has a long history of displacing Palestinians and Bedouins in Israel and erasing the remains of their destroyed villages,” The Real News, October 3, 2014.

Zayid, Ismail. “The Jewish National Fund: A Colonial Racist Instrument,” NION.ca [Not In Our Name, Canada]. 

Zieve, Tamara. “Canadian PM [Stephen Harper] to be honored at KKL-JNF Toronto event,” The Jerusalem Post, November 29, 2013.

• Canadian support for South African apartheid
[#FromJohannesburgToTelAviv]

Burrows, Paul. "Nelson Mandela, Brian Mulroney & Canada's Anti-Apartheid Record,” The Media Co-op, December 17, 2013.

Caplan, Gerald. "Many Canadians suffer from a convenient apartheid amnesia,” Globe and Mail, May 11, 2018.

Engler, Yves. “Canada’s Duplicitous Economic Policies Supported Apartheid South Africa,” Rabble.ca, December 12, 2013

Engler, Yves. "Canada’s Role in the Apartheid Struggle,” CounterPunch, December 10, 2013.

Engler, Yves. "Our shame: Canada supported apartheid South Africa,” Yves Engler Blog, December 10, 2013.

Fine, Sean. “How Canada Failed South Africa,” Globe and Mail, April 11, 1998.

Siddiqui, Haroon. “The Real Canadian Heroes of the Anti-Apartheid Struggle,” Toronto Star, December 14, 2013.

• Video: Canada activists disrupt top
supporter of Israeli war crimes

"Former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler was on stage as one of several “inspiring thought leaders” talking about “pressing human rights issues” at Montreal’s Concordia University.... / But one issue the chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights was in no hurry to talk about is Israel’s massive and systematic violations of Palestinian rights. / Cotler was the focus of a disruption that sought to raise the question of Palestine in a place where members of Canada’s liberal elite preferred silence.” As the video above shows, lawyer and activist Dimitri Lascaris jumps up on the stage and challenges Cotler directly, pointing out how Israeli snipers have deliberately killed journalists, medics and unarmed protesters during Great March of Return protests in Gaza over the last year. / Lascaris says that he used to believe that Cotler, a prominent figure in Canada’s Israel lobby, was a “true defender of human rights.” “But I’ve learned since then that you refuse to criticize a regime which is running roughshod over the human rights of the Palestinian people, and I find that disgraceful,” Lascaris says.” Click here to go to Electronic Intifada’s coverage of the event [written by Ali Abunimah]. Click here to go to "Canadian apologist for Israeli war crimes [Irwin Cotler] nominated for Peace Prize" [written by Yves Engler].  [Excerpt: "Hypocrisy, lying, disdain for the victims of ‘our’ policies and other forms of rot run deep in Canadian political culture. The latest example is former prime minister Paul Martin nominating Irwin Cotler for the Nobel Peace Prize,...Cotler’s human rights credentials are a sham. He is a vicious anti-Palestinian who aggressively criticizes enemy states such as Venezuela, China, Russia and Iran while largely ignoring rights violations committed by Canada and the US.”]

• Video: Yes, Canada Arms and Funds Israel

Jan 5, 2022 • In mid-December Canadian diplomat, Robin Wettlaufer, representative to the Palestinian Authority, criticized Electronic Intifada Director Ali Abunimah for stating that Canada “arms and funds the apartheid state.” Wettlaufer responded by writing “we neither arm nor fund Israel.” Following this, Abunimah and others provided evidence of Canada arming and funding Israel, from direct weapons sales to components of US deliveries to subsidizing charitable donations. In this discussion with Ali Abunimah, Karen Rodman, Yves Engler and Jonathan Kuttab, you can learn about the ways Canada arms and funds Israel. / Moderated by Bianca Mugyenyi, CFPI / Organized by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. / Co-sponsored by Just Peace Advocates. / SPEAKERS: ALI ABUNIMAH: Ali Abunimah is director of The Electronic Intifada, an independent nonprofit publication focusing on Palestine. He is the author of "One Country, A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse" (2007) and "The Battle for Justice in Palestine" (2014). / JONATHAN KUTTAB: Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. Jonathan is currently the executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) and a resident of East Jerusalem / YVES ENGLER: Yves Engler is an author and activist based in Montreal. He has written more than ten books on Canadian foreign policy. His most recent book is titled “Stand on guard for Whom - a people’s history of the Canadian military.” / KAREN RODMAN: Karen Rodman is the Executive Director of Just Peace Advocates, a Canadian based independent human rights organization promoting Just Peace through the rule of law and respect for human rights in Canada and around the world for the Palestinian people.

                                                                                                      Michael Levin 

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) has been the key tool used by Israel to dispossess Palestinians of their lands for over a century. It also discriminates against Palestinian citizens of Israel in the provision of land and housing, and appropriates lands in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in violation of international law. Canadian taxpayers subsidize these activities, as the JNF has a fundraising office in Canada that has had charitable status since 1967. Join with Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) in calling on the Minister of National Revenue to revoke JNF Canada's charitable status NOW! Sign our petition here.” [Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada / Voix Juives Indépendantes Canada, June 9, 2017]

• Additional articles and eBooks about the Jewish National Fund [JNF-KKL]

See the Resource Section of "Stop The JNF"

In addition:

Abunimah, Ali. “Video: Activists disrupt JNF fundraiser in Berlin, protest Israel’s “ethnic cleansing,” Electronic Intifada, October 8, 2012.

Aburawa, Arwa. “JNF plants trees to uproot Bedouin,” Electronic Intifada, October 18, 2010.

Alaluf, Yaara Benger. "Why does the JNF still exist? The forefathers of Zionism never hid their desire to use the Jewish National Fund to dispossess Palestinians. On its 120th anniversary, now is the time to abolish it,” +972, July 8, 2021. [“...JNF Chair and President of the Zionist Executive Committee Menachem Ussishkin said in a June 1938 JNF management meeting: “If you ask me whether it is moral to remove 60,000 families from their places of residence and transfer them elsewhere, while of course providing them with the means for resettlement — I’ll tell you it’s moral.” At the same meeting, Arthur Ruppin of the Palestine Office and the Palestine Land Development company announced: “I don’t believe in the transfer of individuals. I believe in the transfer of entire villages.”]

Aparicio, Eitan Bronstein. “Most JNF - KKL forests and sites are located on the ruins of Palestinian villages,” Zochrot, May, 2014. [“More than two-thirds of KKL forests and sites – 46 out of 68 – conceal or are located on the ruins of Palestinian villages demolished by Israel.”]

Aparicio, Eitan Bronstein. “Under the Forests,” Zochrot, March, 2014. [KKL employee in charge of sign posting (6/08): “Actually, a great part of our parks are on lands that were Arab villages, and the forests are a cover-up.”]

Backon, Lewis. "Meet Avraham Duvdevani, the dedicated settler advocate now in charge of the Jewish National Fund. Duvdevani has spent his long career supporting illegal Israeli settlements and promoting Palestinian dispossession. In his new role as global chairperson of the Jewish National Fund, he will be doing much the same,” Mondoweiss, December 1, 2020. [“So, who is this new man at the top of the organization that owns 13% of the total land of Israel?... Duvdevani spent a long stint as the head of the WZOs settlement division. Established in 1971, the settlement division’s role is to finance illegal Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land, in close cooperation with the Israeli state, who grants it the entirety of its funding….For supporters of international law and justice, Duvdevani’s politics are repugnant. However, his support for rampant illegal settlement expansion and systematic discrimination means he will feel right at home in his new office.”]

 

Baladna Association for Arab Youth, “Baladna infographic on the racist Prawer Plan,” 3/28/13. [“To mark the 37th anniversary of Land Day, the Baladna Association for Arab Youth has released an infographic poster about the racist Prawer Plan which aims at the confiscation of the lands and the displacement of the Arab Bedouins in unrecognized (by the government) Naqab villages. Poster created and designed by Nayif Shaqur.”]

Baranski-Walker, Donna. “Tell your congressperson or senator to speak out against repeated destruction of Al Araqib in the Negev,” Mondoweiss, May 4, 2015.

Benjamin, Jesse. "Why I protested the Jewish National Fund,” Mondoweiss, October 12, 2010. ["Linking the JNF with systematic discrimination is not to be taken lightly, and it is no small task to challenge the state of Israel and its practices, even for an Israeli citizen like myself. However, doing so is not only imperative, but is in line with a major trajectory within Jewish history and culture committed to social justice.”]

Blau, Uri. “Seeing the forest and the trees: The untold story of the Jewish National Fund, Revelations from JNF minutes: billions of shekels hoarded in its coffers, millions wasted on legal conflicts, trees planted on disputed land. Not to mention the fate of Holocaust victims’ assets,” Haaretz, December 9, 2011.

Blumenthal, Max. “Israel stands by ‘the damned’ of 1948 as it seeks to finish the Nakba,” The National, May 31, 2014

Blumenthal, Max. “On Land Day, the Jewish National Fund’s Racist Legacy is Exposed,” MaxBlumenthal.com, March 30, 2011.

Boarini, Silvia. “In Pictures: Bedouin face Israeli demolitions, Bedouin home demolitions in Israel have increased, as the state plans to displace up to 40,000 citizens,” Al Jazeera, May 4, 2014.

Chambers, Bill. “Chicago Botanic Garden forced to rethink links with Jewish National Fund,” Electronic Intifada, January 29, 2014.

Cohan, Moshe. “[Attorney General] Weinstein Bypasses Ministers, Supervises JNF: Attorney General effectively reversed a decision by that would have kept the JNF an independent organization,” Israel National News, May 6, 2014.

Cook, Jonathan. "An Israeli charity group is uprooting Palestinians – not planting trees. The Jewish National Fund has won plaudits for its environmental work, but its agenda has been to evict on behalf of the state,” The National, July 21, 2020. ["And yet its work over many decades has been driven by one main goal: to evict Palestinians from their homeland. The JNF is a thriving relic of Europe’s colonial past, even if today it wears the garb of an environmental charity.”]

Cook, Jonathan. "The JNF’s sordid history: Tower and stockades, forests and Jim Crow vetting committees,” Jonathan Cook Blog, July 7, 2020. ["Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, foreshadowed the JNF’s transformative mission back in 1895, six years before the organisation had been created: "We must expropriate gently the private property on the estates assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless [local] population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our country.”]

Dana, Joseph. “Democratic for Jews, Jewish for everyone else,” +972, January 18, 2011.

Deger, Allison. “Destroyed Palestinian village outfitted with 1,000 JNF trees memorializing Denver couple’s dead dogs,” Mondoweiss, May 30, 2014.

Dropkin, Greg. "Jewish National Fund works hand in glove with Israeli military,” Electronic Intifada, July 20,2020. ["Unnoticed by the Western media, the organization – headquartered in Jerusalem – is hoping to implement an ambitious blueprint known as “Israel 2040.” It aims to settle 1.5 million Israelis in the Negev and Galilee regions over the coming two decades. The stated reason behind that objective is a desire to make Israel “a more stable and demographically, economically and socially balanced country.” Judging by the JNF’s activities until now that language appears to be code for subjugating Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are often called a “demographic threat” by Zionists. The JNF has sought to displace Palestinians so that many parts of their historic homeland are reserved exclusively for Jews. Palestinian Bedouins living in al-Araqib, a village in the Negev, have seen their homes destroyed repeatedly by the Israeli authorities on the pretext of developing a JNF forest.”]

Drucker, Raviv. "Israeli Right’s New Bank – the Jewish National Fund. The organization faces calls to investigate suspicions that tens of millions of dollars earmarked for Jerusalem have wound up being used to buy land and other property in occupied territory,” Haaretz, November 8, 2019. 

Dysch, Marcus. “Greens denounce JNF as 'racist' and colonial,"  Jewish Chronicle [UK], March 1, 2012. [“The Green Party has called for the JNF to be stripped of its charity status and has pledged to sign up to a campaign which calls the charity “racist”. Delegates voted unanimously in favour of a motion condemning JNF's activities and denouncing its “claims to be an ecological agency” at the England and Wales party's spring conference on Sunday.”]

Engler, Yves. “Using Children for Israeli Propaganda,” Dissident Voice, April 27, 2017.

Gindin, Matthew. "Why I no longer donate to the Jewish National Fund. My pushke is still somewhere in my house, but I will no longer be putting coins in it,” ricochet, January 17, 2019.

Gold, Ariel. "We need to talk about the Jewish National Fund. To reach the goal of a just and durable peace in Israel/Palestine it is imperative to dismantle the JNF, a provocative agent in the dispossession of Palestinians,” Mondoweiss, February 17, 2022. ["Dr. James Zogby, in the Palestinians: the Invisible Victims, lays out how the JNF, from its very inception, was designed as an exclusivist organization, its charter stating that a lessee of JNF land “is asked to assure the JNF that only Jewish labor will be employed on this land.” A recent report on the JNF by Maya Rosen and A Daniel Roth, reveals the deeply intertwined — as of 2007, the JNF owned 13% of the total land in Israel — and mutually beneficial relationship between the JNF and the Israeli state allowing the JNF to carry out blatant discriminatory and internationally provocative actions (such as the purchase of West Bank land) in place of the state.”]

Goldberg, Dan. “Left-wing Jewish group [Australian Jewish Democratic Society] slams JNF for ‘land theft and ethnic cleansing’,” Haartez, November 19, 2014. ["Many Jews give to the Jewish National Fund without having enough information about their activities. We are aiming to expose some of the more unsavory and discriminatory policies of the JNF. Once people find out, I’m sure they will seriously reconsider their donations.”]

Gordon, Neve. "Uprooting the Bedouins of Israel. Christian evangelicals are donating saplings to make the Israeli desert bloom—but they're doing it on land now being seized from Bedouins,” The Nation, December 2, 2010. ["The Jewish National Fund’s objective, however, is not altruistic, but rather to plant a pine or eucalyptus forest on the desert land so that the Bedouins cannot return to their ancestral homes. The practice of planting forests in an attempt to Judaize more territory is by no means new. Right after Israel’s establishment in 1948, the JNF planted millions of trees to cover up the remains of Palestinian villages that had been destroyed during or after the war. The objective was to help ensure that the 750,000 Palestinian residents who either fled or were expelled during the war would never return to their villages and to suppress the fact that they had been the rightful owners of the land before the State of Israel was created. Scores of Palestinian villages disappeared from the landscape in this way, and the grounds were converted into picnic parks, thus helping engender a national amnesia regarding the Palestinian Nakba. For several years, I thought this practice had been discontinued, but thanks to the JNF’s new bedfellows and the generous donation of Rory and Wendy Alec, who established the international evangelical television channel GOD-TV, within the next few months a million saplings will be planted on land belonging to uprooted Bedouins.”]

Gvirtz, Amos. “Is it a crime to own your own land?” Mondoweiss, May 3, 2015. [“When you visit Sheik Sayah in the tiny Bedouin village of Al Araqib not far from Beersheva, he will show you documents signed by his great-great-grandfather who purchased and registered his land in 1905 during the Ottoman Empire. He will show you tax receipts from the British mandate. He will show you gravestones from 1914 in the village’s cemetery.
 You’ll see where village houses once stood and hear why residents are staying even though Israeli police have demolished their homes 83 times, put many in jail and is suing the villagers nearly 2 million NIS [about $500,000] for the cost of the demolitions.”]

Hass, Amira. “Israeli colonialism, plain and simple. In two court decisions involving shoving Palestinians off their land, Supreme Court justices have confirmed what Israel’s critics are saying: that Israel has been a colonialist entity since 1948,” Haaretz, May 11, 2015. [Behind pay wall. Excerpt: “The justices dismissed the petition challenging the application of the Absentee Property Law in their case, thus continuing the tradition from the 1950s. That is when we coined the oxymoron “present absentees” in order to facilitate the demolition of villages and robbery of land of Palestinians that remained, those that we failed to expel. In the justices’ consent to the demolition of Sussia and Umm al-Hiran, they have drawn a direct line linking 1948 to today. They have confirmed what Israel’s most virulent critics say about the country – that it is a colonialist, dispossessing entity. The justices have parroted what the state has been screaming all along: It’s my right to dispossess, my right to expel, my right to demolish and crowd people into pens. I have demolished and will continue to do so. I have expelled and will continue to expel. I have crowded people in and will continue to do so. I never gave a damn and never will do.”]

Heritage Florida Jewish News. “JNF launches Campus Fellows program to promote Israel at American Colleges,” October 3, 2014. ["Each will be required to complete administrative tasks and complete regular progress reports and all will be supervised by a JNF Israel Advocacy & Education area director."]

Hithabrut-Tarabut. “Jewish National Fund for West Bank settlers," Alternative News [AIC], May 11, 2014. [“The journalist Raviv Drucker published an internal document from the financial department of the Jewish National Fund on his blog (original piece, in Hebrew). The document details how much the JNF spends on "development initiatives" for settlers in the occupied West Bank....You would look in vain for these projects in the Palestinian Occupied Territories on the KKL/JNF website: The KKL has good reasons to not to mention them...”}

Horowitz, Adam. “‘I was not a party to, and never will be, to the planting of trees on expropriated and stolen land’: Former South African Ambassador to Israel rejects JNF trees planted in his name," Mondoweiss, June 14, 2013.

Jackman, Josh. “JNF hits back at comedian who called it racist," Jewish Chronicle [UK], December 16, 2014. ["Ivor Dembina banned comedians from his Traditional Jewish Xmas Eve Show if they had performed at the JNF annual Kosher Komedy Night. He explained that he believed the pro-Israel charity was “racist in its outlook”, and said he regarded it in the same light as the British National Party and the English Defence League."]

JNF eBook, Vol. 1. “Introducing the Jewish National Fund,” January 2010. [Articles by lan Pappe, Abe Hayeem, Uri Davis, Susannah Tarbush, Sonja Karkar, Ben White, Rahela Mizrahi, Bob Williamson and John Goss; Foreword by Ghada Karmi, edited by Mortaza Sahibzada.]

Jewish Telegraphic Agency [JTA]. "JNF Canada Withdraws Event Funding Over Singer Noa's Alleged BDS Ties,” The Forward, February 21, 2016.

Jews Say No! "Unearthing Truths: Israel, the Nakba, and the Jewish National Fund,” May 1, 2018. ["In this issue, we lay out the historical record of those years to show that the Nakba was the result of a deliberate policy of mass expulsion, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing—a strategy designed to ensure that the Palestinians who had lived on the land for generations would be barred from ever returning. We also zero in on the fundamental role played by the 117-year-old international organization, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), in facilitating that dispossession….While this year marks the 70th anniversary of the catastrophic events of 1948, we also know that the policies that informed Israel’s and the JNF’s actions back then continue to the present. With this issue we hope to expose the relationship between the Nakba and the Jewish National Fund; to encourage deeper conversation about the experiences and realities of Palestinians before, during and since Israel’s creation; and to facilitate among US Jewish communities—and more broadly—honest reflection, analysis, and action toward truth-telling and justice.”]

Kamin, Debra. “For JNF president, time is right to build on sand: Jeffrey Levine, on his 1st visit to Israel since taking the reins 6 months ago, touts Negev projects and JNF treatment of Bedouin,” The Times of Israel, March 9, 2014.

Landau, Susan. “BDS activists protest the Jewish National Fund in Philadelphia,” Mondoweiss, March 22, 2013. [“Ethnic cleansing is a crime – justice now in Palestine!” Chanting with great energy and exuberance, the Philadelphia Coalition for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel (Philly BDS) was once again a colorful and vocal presence in protest at the annual local fundraiser for The Jewish National Fund.”]

Landau, Susan. “Tax-deductible apartheid: JNF raises $60 million a year for racially-discriminatory housing,” Mondoweiss, March 1, 2014.

Leifer, Joshua. “The Diaspora Roadblock to Peace,” Dissent Magazine, September 15, 2014. [“By donating to organizations like the JNF, American Jews have provided economic support and political legitimacy to the settlements and to Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank. Their money has built brick-and-mortar roadblocks to peace...strengthening the Israeli far right, and weakening Israeli civil society.”]

Levin, Ariel. "Jewish National Fund Protest October 2015,” JewishVoiceforPeace.org, November 2, 2015. ["Last weekend, over 300 people gathered together in Chicago to protest the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) Annual Conference. Over the course of two days, we prayed, chanted, marched, and even danced to expose the Jewish National Fund’s involvement in the mass displacement of Palestinians and call on American Jewish communities to stop supporting the JNF’s ongoing ethnic cleansing.”]

Levin, Michael. “JNF signs for the road to ethnic cleansing (with apologies to Burma-Shave),” Mondoweiss, July 9, 2013.

Levin, Michael. “You've Got to Be Carefully Taught,” Mondoweiss, September 15, 2011. ["As the Jewish National Fund gears up for its National Conference on September 18 & 19, it is hustling teens to attend a “Teen Leadership Seminar” to be held as part of the conference. The publicity for the Seminar seemed to cry out for a bit of a rewrite — here is my version of the poster, with thanks to South Pacific‘s “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.”]

Levy, Sarah. “South Africans apologize over forest planted on Palestinian village,” Electronic Intifada, May 5, 2015.

Mondoweiss Editors. “National Lawyers Guild and human rights activists call for IRS investigation into charity status of Jewish National Fund,” Mondoweiss, March 30, 2016. [Click here to download the legal memo regarding the regulatory complaint: NLG Complaint to IRS regarding Violations by the Jewish National Fund.]

Moon, Sara, Bella Crowe, Ruth Knappe. “Cycle ’48: Remapping the Nakba,” Mondoweiss, February 23, 2015. [“Cycle ’48 is an ongoing project remapping erased histories on two wheels. Last week we left Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, and joined the Jewish National Fund cycle trail from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in order to uncover the hidden stories on its path.”]

Morrison, Seth. “Lying by omission: The JNF's role in setting Negev land policy: The Jewish National Fund has in the past been caught lying about its role in East Jerusalem evictions of Palestinians. Now its role in Israeli land policy in the Negev is revealed to be much larger than it admits. A former JNF board member demands the organization take responsibility for its actions,” +972, October 24,2013.

Nieuwhof, Adri. “How Israel used a Dutchman’s bravery to cover up its crimes,” Electronic Intifada, November 24, 2016.

Nieuwhof, Adri. “Jewish National Fund “repents” for erasing Palestinian villages,” Electronic Intifada, December 9, 2013.

Nieuwhof, Adri. “Palestine activists call on Netherlands prince to disassociate from JNF water project,” Electronic Intifada, April 18, 2013.

Noy, Orly. "JNF illegally fired and discriminated against Palestinian workers, court rules. Tel Aviv court rules JNF must rehire 10 Palestinian workers excluded from collective bargaining agreement and dismissed for living in the West Bank,” +972, March 17, 2021.

Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign. “Planting trees named after displaced villages, in the 113 anniversary of the Jewish National Fund,” January 29, 2014. 

Pappe, Illan and Samer Jaber. “Ethnic Cleansing by All Means: The real Israeli 'peace policy,” Mondoweiss, October 17, 2014.

Patel, Yumna. "JNF plans to expand into West Bank settlements draws widespread condemnation. Liberal Zionist criticisms of the JNF’s new plans fail to address the colonial history of the organization, which is rooted at its core in the dispossession of the Palestinian people,” Mondoweiss, February 18, 2021. ["The JNF has operated unofficially through sister companies and organizations in the West Bank for years, promoting the expansion and establishment of illegal settlements and outposts, directly resulting in the displacement of Palestinians.“]

Rinat, Zafrir. "JNF Using Trees to Thwart Bedouin Growth in Negev’; Critics warn organization's forestation of north Negev could cause damage to nature and the landscape,” Haaretz, December 8, 2008.

Sappir, Michael. "The JNF is no innocent charity. The Jewish National Fund presents itself in Germany as a 'green' organization serving all of Israel's residents. That's not what its leaders say in Israel,” +972, March 4, 2021. ["the JNF’s German website goes beyond selective storytelling, and in fact twists its portrayal of the Fund’s work almost beyond recognition. A reality check is in order. Far from serving all residents of Israel equally, the JNF is pivotal in Israel’s systemic discrimination against Palestinian society inside the Green Line (those holding Israeli citizenship), and in dispossessing Palestinians on both sides of that line.”]

Sheizaf, Noam. “The Jewish National Fund’s list of projects in the settlements," +972, May 4, 2014. ["The JNF often leads supporters and donors to believe that it does not fund projects in the occupied territories….However, a 2012 document obtained by investigative journalist Raviv Drucker reveals a list of projects in the settlements funded by the Jewish National Fund….Housing Minister Uri Ariel of the settlers’ Jewish Home party…claim[s] that JNF is involved in important activities that should be kept out of the public’s eye. Now we know what he means.”]

Silver, Charlotte. “How the Jewish National Fund bluewashes Israeli apartheid,” Electronic Intifada, June 18, 2014.

Silverstein, Richard. "Isaiah Weeps: Jewish National Fund, GOD-TV Erase Israeli Bedouin Village to Bring Jesus’ Second Coming,” Tikun Olam, December 6, 2010. ["Who has the JNF made common cause with?  GOD-TV, a group which in 2009 gave JNF $500,000 for this forest (IRS 990 pdf) as preparation for Jesus’ return.  This is precisely how the project is described in the group’s IRS 990 form: “The grant to the Jewish National Fund was to plant trees in Israel, to participate in dressing the Holy Land for the return of Jesus.” In other words, world Jewry is embracing a group which is aiding evangelical radicals in their goal of bringing about the Second Coming of Jesus.  Is this why we collected coins in our blue JNF pushkes in Hebrew school lo those many years ago?”]

Sternman, Adiv. “Ministers shoot down bill for JNF transparency: Legislation would have allowed state comptroller to audit the powerful nonprofit, publicize its records,” The Times of Israel, May 5, 2014.

Weiss, Philip. "Americans on Jewish National Fund board might be prosecuted by ICC over settlements –Alpher. The Jewish National Fund's plan to buy Palestinian lands that surround illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank could expose Americans on the JNF board to criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court,” Mondoweiss, February 19, 2021.

Weitz, Gidi. “Ex-MK: JNF chairman told me he's 'dying to screw' me," Haaretz, November 27, 2014. ["Recently the JNF has come under fire for wasting money, trips abroad and alleged use of company funds for maintaining political connections. These issues and several others were brought to light by Raviv Drucker in an expose on Channel 10’s program “Hamakor” (“The Source).”]

Westbrook, Stephanie. “How Israel forces Bedouins to live in a graveyard.” Electronic Intifada, October 24, 2014. ["There is a troika of Israeli entities working to drive us from our land: the state, Mekorot and the Jewish National Fund.”]

White, Ben. “Court case challenges role Jewish National Fund plays in Israeli land theft,” Middle East Eye, September 5, 2016.

Wilson, Nigel. “'They want to uproot me and bring a Jewish citizen’; The "unrecognised" Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran will be demolished to make way for up to 10,000 Jewish Israelis,” Al Jazeera, August 17, 2016.

Winstanley, Asa. “Green Party conference calls for revocation of JNF UK charitable status,” Electronic Intifada, February 27, 2012.

Winstanley, Asa. “JNF’s loss of half UK charity revenue good news for Palestinians,” Electronic Intifada, October 24, 2012.

Winstanley, Asa. “Stop the JNF campaign makes steady gains as Israel charity goes “on the retreat” in UK,” Electronic Intifada, February 22, 2012.

Wise, Rabbi Alissa. “Some Things Never Change: The Prawer Plan and the Legacy of the Nakba,” Huffington Post, June 14, 2013. [Also see: Ben-Amos, Avner. “The military face behind the Prawer Plan's civilian mask: ‘The Bedouin will not live on his land with his flock, but rather will be part of the urban class that comes in the afternoon and puts on his slippers,’ Moshe Dayan said in 1963. In the 50 years since, not much has changed regarding Israel’s efforts to justify its policy in the Negev: as many Arabs as possible on as little land as possible and as few Jews as possible on as much land as possible,” translated from Hebrew by Mairav Zonszein, +972, December 10, 2013.]

Yoaz, Yuval. “JNF not required to act for good of all, court told. The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is not required to act for the good of all of Israel's citizens and asking it to allocate land for the benefit of everyone is tantamount to nationalizing its assets, according to a document submitted to the High Court of Justice this week,” Haaretz, December 16, 2004.

Video: Stop the JNF Campaign Plan-a-Tree in Palestine Delegation [10:59, 2013]. “In January 2013, a group of international activists form the Stop the JNF Campaign participated in a Plant-a-Tree in Palestine Delegation. The JNF has charitable status is 50 countries and in all 50 U.S. states. The Stop the JNF Campaign is working to revoke this charitable status as part of the ongoing resistance to the environmental destruction, land theft and home and village demolitions carried out by the JNF. The Stop the JNF Campaign [www.stopthejnf.org] is a partnership of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), Stop the Wall - Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, Palestinian Farmers Union (PFU), and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN).”

Video: Trees as Politics - JNF and Colonization in Palestine  [48:27, 2013]. "Gadi Algazi, a historian at the University of Tel Aviv speaks about the major role the Jewish National Fund has played in the displacement of Palestinians, since its founding in 1901, through the Nakba of 1948, and how it continues to do so today. / Aglazi has helped found Taayush, an activist group that works with the Bedouin of the Negev/Naqab desert in their struggle against the JNF's campaign of displacement and "judaization" of the land. Taayush defines itself as a group of Israelis & Palestinians striving together to end the Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily non-violent direct-action.”

“Shade of the Past” by Samah Shihadi 

JVP Chicago confronts the JNF, October 2015

Zochrot: "One of Israel’s largest man-made #forests is built over the ruins of six destroyed #Palestinian villages located in the Safad region. All 6 villages were obliterated in the Nakba, and their inhabitants killed or expelled." / "A'yn Al-Zaytun was the site of a horrible #Massacre that claimed the lives of 70 people. Some might recognize the village, as it was the village massacre vividly recreated in the famous novel ‘Bab el Shams’ (Gate to the Sun) by Elias Khoury that was turned into a film. #ExposeJNF "

Zochrot: "Ben Shemen contains the JNF's Memoria Forest which does double duty, covering up an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians while also concealing Israel’s sacrifice of thousands Argentinian Jews tortured and killed by the fascist junta that Israel armed and helped to train. #ExposeJNF "

"Enduring Roots: Over a Century of Resistance to the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL),” 2014. "This 40-minute documentary chronicles stories of al-Nakba survivors, interviews with their descendants about the case of refugee return, and current and growing resistance to the ongoing colonization of Palestine by the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) // If this video doesn’t appear here, simply click on the web address of its location on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/87827360

"Covering up Palestinians’ presence
on their land with foreign trees
backfired on Israel and the Jewish
National Fund, which planted the
climate-inappropriate pine forests
that burned in Jerusalem las
 week.” — JVP [2021] 

"The JNF's U.S.A Independence Park, developed in 1976, covers up several Palestinian communities including Bat ‘Itab and Dayr Aban. Zochrot led an action on October 2nd, touring the destroyed village of Dayr Aban. You can watch recordings of the tour of remembrance here.

The JNF’s British Park sits upon the ruins of ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages. An insolent sign at the entrance to the park – which remains Palestinian property – reads “British Park, A gift of the Jewish National Fund of Great Britain”. The land, sitting atop the villages of Ajjur and Zakariyya, continues to violate the rights of the Palestinian refugees.

The JNF’s Begin Park, in which you can still find the ruins and remains of the houses and village cemetery of Al-Qabu. The village mosque still stands, abandoned and neglected.

The JNF’s Ayalon-Canada Park is an Israeli national park was established in 1972 on the ruins of four Palestinian villages conquered by Israel during the 1967 war, including Yalu and ‘Imwas.

The JNF promotes the Coretta Scott King Forest as a symbol of “commitment to peace and justice” but the forest covers up destroyed Palestinian villages, including Ayn al-Zaytoun, whose inhabitants the JNF helped to kill and expel. Some might recognize the village of Ayn al- Zaytun, as it was the village massacre vividly recreated in the famous novel ‘Bab el Shams’ (Gate to the Sun) by Elias Khoury that was turned into a film by the same name.” — Zochrot

"Erik Ader with a new plaque dedicated to his father, Bas, in the West Bank village of Farata. (Haitham Khatib/Plant een Olijfboom)” -  ei / "How Israel used a Dutchman’s bravery to cover up its crimes “ / Adri Nieuwhof: "To honour Dutch resistance fighter Bas Ader, the JNF planted a forest over the ruins of Bayt Nattif, a village destroyed by Zionist forces during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine. To protest this act, his son Erik Ader planted 1,000 olive trees. Read...”

Zochrot: "600 buildings once stood on the bare hill of Ajjur. Only four remain: Ajjur's clinic today a restaurant; the remains of the olive press & flour mill; a grand house that belonged to al-'Azza family, occupied by an Israeli family that runs a music chamber house & lives in it. #ExposeJNF "

Zochrot [10/12/2021]: "Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) pressured the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to review JNF Canada for violations of tax law, including efforts to illegally purchase land in the Occupied West Bank and finance the IoF. JNF Canada stated in a letter: “the CRA has instructed us that it is a violation of Canadian policy to develop projects in the disputed [illegally occupied West Bank] territories. JNF Canada has gone on record with CRA that due to this interpretation of Canadian foreign policy, we will not fund projects in the disputed territories.” IJV continues to pressure the CRA to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status.

#ExposeJNF #ExposeKKl"

• The JNF and Al Araqib

Video: Israel's Destruction of the Bedouin Village Al-Arakib (uploaded August 10, 2010). “The Israeli Police demolished the Arab Bedouin
village of Al-Arakib for the third time in two weeks to clear space
for a Jewish National Fund forest. And for the third time, the
residents of Al-Arakib rebuilt their destroyed homes alongside
Jewish Israeli activists. Al-Arakib is a village in the Negev desert
that was born decades before the foundation of Israel. Its
residents are Israeli citizens. Video by Max Blumenthal and
Joseph Dana.” “Al-Araqib was demolished 66 times between July 2010 and mid-March 2014. "They can demolish us 100 times, but they will not demolish our will to remain," said Sheikh Saiah al-Turi.”  

Also see: 1) Blumenthal, Max. “The "Summer Camp Of Destruction:" Israeli High Schoolers Assist The Razing Of A Bedouin Town,” Maxblumenthal.com, July 31, 2010 [article now available on-line at The Jerusalem Fund]; 2) Schindler, Max. “Jerusalem protest at JNF calls to halt Bedouin displacement,” +972, January 30, 2012; 3) Zonszein, Mairav. “Jewish National Fund resumes forestation project in al-Arakib: After having their homes destroyed by the State over 30 times in the last two years, the residents of al-Arakib can do little else but watch as a forest is built on the ruins of their homes,” +972,  May 7, 2012; 4) Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “Israel’s ongoing “sociocide” in the Naqab,” Electronic Intifada, August 25, 2013; 5) Rotem, Michal. “In Al-Arakib, even the dead face eviction: The Bedouin village of Al-Arakib has been demolished 63 times since 2010. Now it’s dealing with its latest challenge: eviction orders for the deceased,” +972,  May 26, 2014 (translated by Yehudit Keshet); 6) “Israel demolishes Bedouin village in Negev for 70th time,” Ma'an, June 12, 2014 (includes video); 7) Boarini, Silvia. “In photos: Israeli bulldozers raze Bedouin community,” Electronic Intidada, June 18, 2014; 8) “Israel razes Bedouin village in Negev for the 78th time," PNN, November 18. 2014; 9) Murphy, Maureen Clare. “Photo exhibition portrays Palestinian Bedouins’ struggle,” Electronic Intifada, January 28, 2015; 10) Bannoura, Saed. “Al-Araqib Village Demolished For The 81 Time: Israeli bulldozers accompanied by hundreds of police officers invaded the Negev Arab Bedouin village of al-Araqib, and demolished its structures, for the 81st time, rendering the residents homeless in the cold and the rain,” IMEMC, February 19, 2015; 11) Boarini, Silvia. “Negev Bedouin Resist Israeli Demolitions “To Show We Exist,” Inter Press Service, February 20, 2015; 12) Baranski-Walker, Donna. “Tell your congressperson or senator to speak out against repeated destruction of Al Araqib in the Negev,” Mondoweiss, May 4, 2015. 13) Deger, Allison. “Bedouin village razed 83 times must pay $500,000 for demolitions, Israel says,” Mondoweiss, May 9, 2015; 14) Hass, Amira. “Israeli colonialism, plain and simple. In two court decisions involving shoving Palestinians off their land, Supreme Court justices have confirmed what Israel’s critics are saying: that Israel has been a colonialist entity since 1948,” Haaretz, May 11, 2015. [behind pay wall]; 15) Silver, Charlotte. “Israel destroys Bedouin village for 84th time,” Electronic Intifada, May 22, 2015. Excerpt: “al-Araqib’s residents’ determination to remain on the land is undaunted. By the time the sun set yesterday evening, they had already rebuilt all of their tents”; 16) Zonszein, Mairav. “Israel Supreme Court: Bedouin have no indigenous rights: A recent Supreme Court ruling refusing to recognize Bedouin land rights sets a legal precedent for the state to endlessly appropriate Palestinian lands,” +972, May 29, 2015; 17) Who Profits, “Forced Displacement: The Story of Al-Araqib,” July, 2015; 18) Boarini, Silvia. “Village refuses to be wiped off the map,” Electronic Intifada, November 11, 2015; 19) The Palestinian Information Center. “Israeli bulldozers raze Araqib village for 97th time,” April 19, 2016. Excerpt: “Chief of the village Aziz Attouri told Quds Press that several families were displaced in the village after bulldozers escorted by Israel security forces demolished their tents and homes. Attouri said that the Israeli occupation authority had demanded the Bedouin families to pay millions of shekels in expenses for current and previous demolition works in their village. He added that an Israeli court also imposed on the residents a penalty of 50,000 shekels on each day they spend on the land of their village”; 20) Zonszein, Mairav. "Israel demolishes Bedouin village al-Araqib for 100th time: Al-Araqib is one of 35 ‘unrecognized’ villages in Israel that authorities refuse to provide with water, electricity or basic infrastructure,” +972, June 29, 2016; 21) Wilson, Nigel. "Israel destroys Palestinian village for 100th time: The dispute between the state of Israel and the Bedouin village of Araqib dates back three generations,” Al Jazeera, July 3, 2016. Excerpt: “'Even if they destroy it 200 times, I am not moving. This is the most precious place in the world for me.' Haqmeh Abu Madigem, resident of Araqib”; 22) Ziv, Oren. “Police arrest nine during march in unrecognized Bedouin village: Nine Bedouin and Jewish activists arrested for trying to prevent JNF bulldozers from turning Al-Araqib’s land into a forest,” +972, July 24, 2016; 23) Ma’an News Agency. “Israeli forces demolish Bedouin village of al-Araqib for the 101st time,” July 27, 2016. Excerpt: "While Bedouins of the Negev are Israeli citizens, the villages unrecognized by the government have faced relentless efforts by the Israeli authorities to expel them from their lands in order to make room for Jewish Israeli homes”; 24) Abu Medeghem, Hala. “101 Demolitions and Counting,” The Nakba Files, August 1, 2016. Excerpt: "The hope of all the people of al-’Araqib is the same, be it the men, the women, the young, the old: to return to our land here, and to return things to the way they were before. That is the first and last of our demands." [“Hala Abu Medeghem is from al-’Araqib village in the Naqab. She has resisted the demolition of her village over 100 times and dreams that its inhabitants will one day be able to live there again in peace”]; 25) Boarini, Sylvia. “Six years of struggle in al-Araqib,” Electronic Intifada, August 6, 2016 / Includes video below:

26) Ma’an News Agency. “Israeli forces demolish Bedouin village of al-Araqib for the 104th time,” October 6, 2016. [“Aziz al-Touri, a resident of al-Araqib, told Ma’an that the demolition was seen by the community as a continuation of “crimes committed against our lands,” and said that Israeli assaults on the village would only “increase our determination to stay on our land.”]; 27) “IOF demolishes Araqib village for the 105th time,” The Palestinian Information Center, November 2, 2016; 28) “Happening Now...Al Araqib is being demolished for the 107th time,” The Four Villages Campaign [Facebook], December 22, 2016; 29) Ma’an News Agency. "Israeli forces demolish unrecognized al-Araqib village for 107th time,”  December 23, 2016; 30) Midde East Observer. “Israeli forces demolish Bedouin village of al-Araqib for 109th time,” February 8, 2017; 31) The Palestine Chronicle. “Israeli Forces Demolish Bedouin Village of al-Araqib for 110th Time,” March 9, 2017; 32) Strickland, Patrick. "Negev: Israel razes Palestinian village for 113th time,” Al Jazeera, May 18, 2017. [Excerpt: “Nadim Nashif, director of the Haifa-based Palestinian advocacy group Baladna, argued that the ongoing efforts to demolish Bedouin homes in the Negev are part of a broader plan to "displace as many Palestinians as possible" on to the smallest amount of land”]; 33) Ahmed, Kaamil. “Israel bulldozes Bedouin village for 114th time: Arab-Israeli village in Negev desert destroyed by Israeli authorities for 114th time,” Anadolu Agency, June 14, 2017; 34) Salama, Alaa. “Unrecognized’ Bedouin Village is Destroyed by Israel for 116th time since 2010,” Al Bawaba [Ma’an], August 1, 2017; 35) Najjar, Farah. "Israel destroys Bedouin village for the 119th time,” Al Jazeera, October 3, 2017; 36) +972 Staff. “This Bedouin village has been demolished by Israel 120 times: For the past seven years, Israeli authorities have repeatedly demolished Al-Araqib in order to expel its residents and build a forest in its place,” +972, October 29, 2017; 37) Noy, Orly. “Home demolitions in the Negev and Tel Aviv show the real face of government corruption: Corruption does not begin with Netanyahu’s cigars or pink champagne. It begins with an ideological system that sees entire segments of the population as undesirable and unnecessary, and as temporary residents in their own homes,” +972, December 26, 2017; 38) Ofir, Jonathan. “Israeli court sentences 68-year-old Bedouin citizen to 10 months in prison – for trespassing his own land,” Mondoweiss, December 27, 2017. [Excerpt: “Now the state reaches new heights of Kafkaesque madness: Sheikh Saih Abu Madiam, 68, is sentenced to 10 months in prison, 5 additional months of conditional imprisonment, as well as a fine of 36,000 Shekels (over $10,000), as Haaretz reported (Hebrew). The offense: Abu Madiam has supposedly trespassed state land – which he claims is his own.”]; 39) WAFA. “Israel demolishes Naqab Bedouin village for 124th time,” January 24, 2018. [Excerpt: “Israeli police and bulldozers broke into the village and demolished the tin homes residents build every time their village is demolished, leaving the local residents, including children, homeless in the cold.]; 40) ICAHD. "February 2018 Demolition & Displacement report,” March 6, 2018. [Excerpt: “In The Naqab desert, South Israel, on 21 February 2018 the unrecognised Bedouin village Al-Araqib was demolished for the 125th time.”]; 41] Middle East Monitor. “Israel demolishes Negev village of Al-Araqeeb for 127th time,” April 17, 2018. [Excerpt: “The move comes a day after the postponement of the appeal hearing against the decision to detain village leader Sheikh Sayah Al-Turi for 10 months. In December last year, the Magistrate’s Court in Beersheba in the Negev fined Sheikh Sayah Al-Turi $10,300 after finding him guilty in 18 cases filed in November 2013 including trespassing on state property, in reference to land which belongs to the village. The appeal has been adjourned indefinitely with no reason being given as to why.”]; 42) IMEMC. “Al-Araqib Demolished for 130th Time,” June 28, 2018; 43) Middle East Monitor. “Palestinian village of Al-Araqeeb demolished for 131st time,” July 26, 2018. [Excerpt: “The Palestinian Ministry of Information said the occupation’s demolition of the village “is an Israeli insistence on ethnic cleansing and an application of racism that boasts the so-called nation state law, which helps legitimise aggression and Judaisation.” “The demolition of the village this many times is unprecedented in human history,” the ministry added.”]; 44) Middle East Monitor. “Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb for 132nd time, arrests residents,” August 16, 2018; 44) Ma’an News Agency, “Al-Araqib refuses to surrender after 133rd demolition,” September 6, 2018; 45) Ben Zikri, Almog. “Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Bedouin Land Rights Activist Convicted of Trespassing; Court lets 10-month sentence stand ■ Sheikh Sayekh Abu Madi'am repeatedly returned to the village from which he had been removed, Haaretz, November 22, 2018; 46) Ziv, Oren. “Sent to prison for trespassing on his own land. Israeli authorities have demolished Al-Araqib over 100 times. Before heading to prison for rebuilding and staying on his land, the village’s leader says he knows justice is on his side," +972, December 11, 2018. [Excerpt: “The sheikh says he’s not afraid of going to prison for the crime of staying in his home: “I want to prove to the world and to the State of Israel that its laws do not [equally] protect Arabs in Israel.”]; 47) Amnesty International. "Urgent Action: Prominent Bedouin Leader Imprisoned by Israel,” January 22, 2019. [Excerpt: "On 25 December 2018, 69-year-old human rights defender Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi, started serving a 10-month prison sentence for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Sheikh Sayyah is the head of al-‘Araqib, a Bedouin village in the Negev/Naqab that is unrecognized by the Israeli authorities. He is currently held at Maasiyahu Prison, in the city of Ramle in central Israel. He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally.”]; 48) Palestinian Information Center. “Israel razes Araqib village for 139th time running,” January 31, 2019. [Excerpt: “The demolition of al-Araqib and other villages in the Negev is a systematic Israeli policy aimed at expelling the native population from the Negev and transferring them to government-zoned areas to pave the way to expand and build settlements for Jewish communities.”]; 49) Middle East Monitor. “Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb Bedouin village for 142nd time,” April 4, 2019. 50) IMEMC. “Al-Araqib Refuses to Surrender,” April 17, 2019. [“Israeli bulldozers demolished the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Araqib, in the Negev desert of southern Israel, for the 143rd time, on Wednesday.”]; 51) Middle East Monitor. "Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb for 145th time,” May 30, 2019. 52) Middle East Monitor. "Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb Bedouin village for 146th time,” June 29, 2019. 53) Middle East Monitor. "Al-Araqeeb demolished by Israeli forces for 147th time,” July 22, 2019. [Excerpt: "Al-Araqeeb’s people are resisting efforts to have them forcibly displaced and their lands confiscated for a new forest by the Jewish National Fund.”] 54) Middle East Monitor. "Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb for 148th time, arrests Palestinian leader,” July 25, 2019. 55) Middle East Monitor. “Israel razes Palestinian village for 150th time,” August 22, 2019. [Excerpt: "Israel’s Yoav Unit of the so-called Negev Development Authority (UPDF) raided the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb yesterday afternoon, demolishing it and confiscating residents’ tents, Arab48 reported. During the demolition of the village, the Yoav Unit arrested a minor and took him to the unit’s investigation centre in Beersheba. Israeli occupation authorities have increased their demolition of Al-Araqeeb in recent weeks and the arrest of the village’s residents. This is the 150th time the village has been razed, with forces levelling the area on three occasions in July alone.”] 56) Middle East Monitor. "Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb for 156th time,” August 30, 2019. [Excerpt: "Eyewitnesses told local media that the Israeli police had dismantled “the tents of the people of Al-Araqeeb, tore them and dragged them out of the village. Israeli occupation authorities have increased their demolition of Al-Araqeeb in recent months and the arrest of the village’s residents, in an attempt to force locals to leave the city….Bedouins in the Naqab must abide by the same laws as Jewish Israeli citizens. They pay taxes but do not enjoy the equal rights and services as Jews in Israel, and the state has repeatedly refused to connect the towns to the national grid, water supplies and other vital amenities.”] 57) Palestinian Information Center. “IOA demolishes Araqib village in Negev for 171st time,” January 7, 2020. [Excerpt: "Araqib's residents said that IOA bulldozers stormed the village in the afternoon and razed all of their tents and mobile homes.”] 58) Dropkin, Greg. "Jewish National Fund works hand in glove with Israeli military,” Electronic Intifada, July 20, 2020. [Excerpt: "The JNF has sought to displace Palestinians so that many parts of their historic homeland are reserved exclusively for Jews. Palestinian Bedouins living in al-Araqib, a village in the Negev, have seen their homes destroyed repeatedly by the Israeli authorities on the pretext of developing a JNF forest.”]; 59) International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC]. "Israeli Soldiers Demolish Al-Arakib Negev Village For the 179th Time,” October 23, 2020. [Excerpt: "Aziz Siyah at-Touri, a resident of the unrecognized village, said the soldiers and officers invaded the community and demolished its tents and structures. He added that the soldiers also abducted his son, Sa’id, and took him to an interrogation facility. It is worth mentioning that the village was demolished 179 times since the year 2000, including when it was demolished last time on September 17th, 2020.”]; 60) Al-Sahli, Naibil. "Why does Israel keep demolishing Al-Araqeeb village in occupied Palestine?” March 30, 2021. [Excerpt: "Last week, just two days after the latest Israeli General Election, the occupation army demolished the village of Al-Araqeeb for the 185th time since 2000. The context is the Prawer Plan to Judaise the Negev region, which is regarded as one of the most dangerous Jewish settlement plans since 1948. About 197,700 acres are under direct Israel control in the Negev. The Arab inhabitants have been expelled to solidify the "Jewishness" of the settler-colonial state. The repeated demolition of Al-Araqeeb is part of Israel's plan to "transfer" — a euphemism for "expel" — the Palestinian Arabs from their homeland.”]; Palestine Chronicle. "Israel Demolishes Al-Araqeeb Village for 192nd Time,” September 4, 2021. [Excerpt: "Bedouins in the Negev must abide by the same laws as Jewish Israeli citizens. They pay taxes but do not enjoy the same rights and services as Jews in Israel and the state has repeatedly refused to connect the towns to the national grid, water supplies, and other vital amenities.”]

Video: Records of Destruction and Return in Al-Araqib [19:35, July, 2018]. “Ground Truth …. [is] an ongoing collaboration between the inhabitants and Popular Committee of Al-Araqib, the Forensic Architecture independent research agency at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Zochrot. The centerpiece of the project is a geographic mapping platform that facilitates the collection, documentation and production of historical, legal and material evidence that map historical remains of Al-Araqib villagers’ sedentary settlement on their land …. 

 

Click here to go to Haaretz article (11/22/18). [Excerpt: "The [Israeli] justice added: “Criminal activity, including repeated incursion onto land that had been cleared [of non-Jews — ML] so that residential buildings could be constructed on it [for Jews — ML], while ignoring the court decisions on the matter exceed the bounds of legitimate protest.” / Abu Madi’am’s lawyer, Shada Ibn Bari, said in response: “While the issue of the ownership of the land at Al-Araqib is still pending, the Supreme Court has decided to turn tens of thousands of people in the unrecognized villages, who are fighting for a dignified existence in the Negev, into criminals. The court ... has sent a dangerous message to the entire Bedouin community that anyone who dares protest the looting of lands and the demolition of homes and fight for the recognition of the villages will find themselves in detention.”]

"The unrecognised Bedouin village of Al Aragib in the Naqab desert, Southern Israel, was entirely demolished for the 186th time by Israeli authorities, on 25 March 2021. The village was demolished earlier this month (11 March 2021) as well.” [The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)]