Wilderness wildfires

"Beyond introducing foreign species to the landscape, the settler population sought to rid the land of any trace of what had existed before. Prior to the Nakba, the area of the Jerusalem Hills that last week’s fires tore through was heavily populated, with many villages spread across the landscape. Indeed, the expansive "Ayalon-Canada" forest, planted by the KKL in 1972 and now nearly entirely burnt to the ground, had already suffered two waves of devastation, albeit of another kind, in both 1948 and 1967.

"Beneath the remains of its trees may be found the ruins of four Palestinian villages: approximately 6,000 people once lived, farmed, and played there. With olive groves, fruit orchards, fields of grain, terraced farms and vegetable plots aplenty, the Jerusalem Hills were quite productive."

https://vashtimedia.com/land-tells-truth-jerusalem-wildfires/ @palestine @israel

#landManagement #landscape #Zionism #proZionism #JNF #KKL #Palestine #colonialism #BritishEmpire #BritishRule #wildfires #wilderness #pineTrees #Nakba

Long read: British rule in Palestine during the 1920s and 1930s enabled Zionist colonisation at the expense of Palestinians.

A.Bustos, "How Britain supported Zionism and prevented Palestinian freedom": https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-britain-supported-zionism-and-prevented-palestinian-freedom/ @palestine @histodons 🧶

#Zionism #Balfour #StandWithIsrael #terrorism #coloniality #proZionism #antisemitism #CAA #JNF #Britain #UK #philosemitism #longRead #Palestine #colonialism #Diaspora #MiddleEast #BritishEmpire #BritishRule

"The Campaign Against Antisemitism #CAA was formed in 2014, after a previous Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Its explicit founding purpose was to counter the antisemitism that arises in Britain when Israel pummels Palestinians and, implicitly, to defend Israel’s right to pummel. Chief executive Gideon Falter is also vice chairman of the Jewish National Fund #JNF UK, which is reported to have provided funding to the CAA in the past. The JNF enjoys charitable status and its existence predates the Balfour Declaration. For over a century, it has bought up land in historic Palestine, helped plan the Nakba, furthered exclusive Jewish settlement and transformed colonised land into parks and forests to erase what had been before."

On respectability politics and #philosemitism: https://vashtimedia.com/2023/12/01/formats/opinion/a-long-way-from-cable-street-antisemitism-march-palestine/ @history @histodons

#Diaspora #Zionism #conflation #confusion #StandWithIsrael #terrorism #coloniality #proZionism #antisemitism

Between 1932 and 1948, Yosef Weitz was the director of the Jewish National Fund's Land Settlement Department. He wrote in his diary:

On 1941, June 22:
"The land of Israel is not small at all, if only the [Palestinian] Arabs will be removed, and if its frontiers would be enlarged a little; to the north all the way to Litani [River in Lebanon], and to the east including the Golan Heights […] while the Arabs be transferred to northern Syria and Iraq […] From now on we must work out a secret plan based on the removal of the Arabs from here [and] to include it into American political circles."

On 1941, June 26:
"Through out the journey my reflections were focused on [the plan] of evacuating the country for us [the settlers]. Only through population transfer will redemption come […] There is no room for us with our neighbours […] They [the natives] are too many and too much rooted [in the country]. The only way is to cut and eradicate them from the roots. […] People and money will be transferred there. We will set up an apparatus from the Yishuv manned by distinguished experts and these will supervise the [Palestinian] Arab transfer and resettlement and a second apparatus will receive the [Jewish] redeemers and plant them in the land."

On 1948, April 28:
"Khayriyah and Saqiyah [two Palestinian Arab villages in the coastal plain] have also been cleared out. My plan is getting implemented."

In 1949:
"[During the British Mandate period, the JNF had purchased land] crumb by crumb. But now a great change has taken place before our eyes. The spirit of Israel, in a giant thrust, has burst through the obstacles, and has conquered the keys to the land, and the road to fulfillment has been freed from its bonds and its guardians-enemies [referring to the natives]. Now, only now, the hour has come for planning considered [regional] plans […] The abandoned lands will never return to their absentee [Palestinian Arab] owners."

https://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story644.html @palestine @israel @idf @terrorism

#Nakba #JNF #refugees #camps #history #forcedMigration #israelPalestine #zionism #colonization #stateViolence #ethnicCleansing #Gaza #deportation #removal #warCrimes #PalestinianLivesMatter #genocide #terrorism #counterTerrorism #israel #Palestine #israelPalestine

Some context of this photo showing Yosef Weitz (center) Transfer Committees (1937-48), also known as “Architect of Transfer, surveying land scheduled for purchase by the #JNF.

Note the traces of a Palestinian standing behind one of the aids, hidden/erased?

Odeh Bisharat:

"I look at the photograph of Weitz, and Khazna’s image captures my imagination. He didn’t know Khazna. He wasn’t aware of the measure of love that her uncle, my grandfather, Khalil, bestowed on her. Standing up there, it’s doubtful whether Weitz felt the human warmth that welled up in the simple houses that stood across from him. It’s very doubtful that he ever listened to the stories of love, heroism, courage and generosity, whether he heard the songs that murmured and surged on this soil. Who knows. If he had listened, maybe he wouldn’t have decreed expulsion for Khazna and wouldn’t have demolished the village and prevented the return of its inhabitants and their descendants."

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-08-05/ty-article/.premium/what-yosef-weitz-didnt-see-while-visiting-the-palestinian-villages-he-would-destroy/0000017f-ef3f-d0f7-a9ff-efff841f0000

@israel
@palestine
#Nakba