THE JNF - FOR WHOM?

October 26th, 2006

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is the biggest owner of lands in Israel, acting as the trustee of "the Jewish People". The Israel Land Administration awarded it with other "state lands", including a large percentage of Palestinian "absentees" land, ie privately owned land confiscated from Palestinians following the Nakba. According to JNF by-laws, these lands are not to be sold or leased for a long term to non-Jews. In short, the JNF is one of the main tools used by the state to restrict non-Jewish ownership and use of land in Israel.

"The Blue Box", used for over a century to collect money from Jews abroad for "redeeming the land of Israel" and "making the desert bloom", has become a Zionist symbol. These days it is being used in an outdoors installation in Tel Aviv, as part of a JNF fundraising campaign for re-forestation efforts in the north.

Here is a short video about the JNF exhibition "Blue Box in the Boulevard" (note the European sentimental tone...).

And here is a giant Blue Box:

Zochrot ("Remembering") is an Israeli organization who works to raise awareness of the Nakba - the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948.

On Thursday (Oct 26th), I have joined them in a march-performance through the JNF installation of Giant Blue Boxes of different designs, under the title "The JNF (in Hebrew: "The Fund for Israel") - whom is it for?"

We held alternative "boxes" with names of Palestinian villages which were erased and "replaced" by Jewish towns on JNF lands, and by forests planted by the JNF.

We handed out fliers with names of the desroyed, erased and forgotten Palestinian villages, and erected our own "Blue Box" in the official JNF installation. Our big box shows on one side the official pre-48 story : swamps, wilderness, desert and on the other the actual erased map of Palestinian towns, whose ruins were "reforested" by the JNF.

You can also watch a short video of the event (highly recommended, but only in Hebrew...)