JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

The 'Jewish National Fund' (Hebrew: קרן קימת לישראל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'') (JNF) was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Palestine (later Israel) for Jewish settlement. By 2006, it owned 14% of the total land in Israel, on which approximately 70-80% of the Israeli population lives.

Contents

Early history

After statehood

Reforestation work

Water reclamation

Environmental leadership

References

See also

External links

Early history

The JNF was founded at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel upon an earlier suggestion by Zvi Hermann Schapira to create an organization to buy and develop land in Palestine for Jewish settlement.
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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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 Arab refugees could be placed further out of their reach. Accordingly, the government began to sell land to the JNF that had been seized from Arab refugees. 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 low price of 11 million pounds. Another 1,000 km² of seized land was sold to the JNF in October, 1950. Questions about the legitimacy of these transactions were counteracted by Israeli legislation.^[3][4][5]
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]. JNF received the right to nominate ten of the 22 directors of the ILA.
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.^[6]
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.
In 2007, Ra'adi Sfori became the first Israeli Arab to be elected as a JNF director.^[7]

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 to fight desertification and create green "lungs" for Israel's communities. Due to JNF's afforestation work, Israel is believed to be one of the few countries, if not the only country, to end the twentieth century with more trees than it began.

Water reclamation

Today, JNF’s water systems provide water for 1.2 million people all over the country.
By now, JNF has built more than 180 reservoirs and has committed to build over 50 more reservoirs and water treatment plants in the next five years. In the past decade, JNF has invested over $115 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 award-winning Alexander River Restoration Project in 2003. In 105 years, JNF has planted more than 240 million trees that beautify the land and protect vital ecosystems, built over 1,000 parks and playgrounds for recreation and tourism and invested in research that has led to scientific breakthroughs that protect Israel’s environment and create agricultural innovations.

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. By developing sustainable ecological practices, the member institutions enable people of arid lands to improve their quality of life.

References

1. Zvi Shilony, ''Ideology and Settlement; The Jewish National Fund, 1897-1914'', Magnes Press (1998), 119-121.
2. Walter Lehn, The Jewish National Fund, ''Journal of Palestine Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 4. (Summer, 1974), pp. 74-96.
3. A. Golan. ''The Transfer of Abandoned Rural Arab Lands to Jews During Israel's War of Independence'', Cathedra, 63, pp. 122-154, 1992 . 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)
4. Buying the State of Israel
5. With all due respect for the 'blue box'
6. Bill allocating JNF land to Jews only passes preliminary reading
7. Israeli Arab appointed as a JNF director despite court appeal Haaretz, 5 July 2007

See also

★ Yatir Forest

★ Eshtaol Forest

External links

★ Official website (in English)

★ Official website (in Hebrew)

★ United States branch

★ The land issue (article on a Jewish Internet Association-maintained website containing information about the JNF)

★ Intelligent Giving profile of JNK (UK)