MK Eldad demands to know why the JNF stopped a forestation project, warns that perhaps JNF donors should be encouraged to give elsewhere.
By Maayana Miskin,INN
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) is demanding to know why the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has stopped planting trees in the Negev following protests from Bedouin land thieves. In a letter to honorary JNF co-chairman Eli Aflalo, Eldad said the JNF’s inaction means it no longer has a purpose.
“I was shocked to read the article by [journalist] Kalman Liebskind on February 26. From the article I learned that, despite repeated court rulings in its favor, the JNF has decided to halt plantings in Arkib in the Negev,” Eldad wrote.
“As is known, these plantings were aimed at foresting the Negev and preventing illegal takeovers of national land by Arab criminals,” he added.
“We are already used to the fact that the JNF does not ‘redeem’ land in the land of Israel anymore. That is considered ‘un-PC [politically correct],'”Eldad said. “But if it turns out that the JNF is also avoiding carrying out its second purpose – foresting and protecting state lands – we will have no choice but to call on JNF donors around the world to give their donations elsewhere, to organizations that are not ashamed to be Zionist, and do not deny that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.”
The JNF began planting trees south of the Bedouin city of Rahat in 1999. At that point, the Arkib area was uninhabited. After the planting began, a Bedouin family claimed ownership to the land, but their claims were rejected by courts.
In 2002, the family decided to establish an illegal outpost in Akrib to defend their claims. Courts continued to reject the claims, and termed residents of Akrib “invaders” with “no right [to the land] whatsoever.”
Liebskind recently revealed that the JNF had stopped planting trees near Arkib weeks earlier. The organization’s decision followed “ceaseless pressure from the extreme left, and lying propaganda and incitement worldwide,” he said.
“Courts approved the plantings… regional prosecutors confirmed that the work is legal, but the JNF prefers not to fight,” Liebskind wrote.
Pressure on the JNF was led by prominent Israeli leftists like Shulamit Aloni and A.B. Yehoshua and was picked up by foreign organizations such as Amnesty International, he said. “The propaganda pushed by our Israel Prize winners and ‘humanities’ leaders ran across the world like a brushfire. If Shulamit Aloni does not care what the facts are, there’s no reason that German human rights activists or United Nations representatives should care either.”
@ @ Yamit>:
Muy buenos noches,
yamit82 Said:
Darlin, I am never at loss for words Just as Ted,he acused me of “chattering”. What!,am I a squirel.
Honey Bee Said:
Well put!! 🙂
yamit82 Said:
Yamit Sugr Pie, We Texans fought for every arcre of land we stole from Mexico. Jews support the Texicans because Mexico demanded all its citizen be Baptistised Roman Catholics. David Moses MD , Sam Houstons doctor wrote a diary of the War for Independence.
Your Grand-father was probably in NM territory trading in buffalo skins etc. My Dad worked ,as a very young boy, selling newspapers for Buffalo Bill. BB cheated the kids out of their money. Jews were all over the west, it was a freedom of movement they had never experienced before or after
My Dad would visit the Arapahoes when they camped along the Platte. He said Jews owed a debt of gratitute for the sacrefice of the land the Indians made.
CuriousAmerican Said:
G-d has raised us up from among the family of nations to be His Chosen People. G-d said of and to us: “… So said HaShem: My first-born Son is Israel.” (Ex. 4:22); and: “… My Legions — My People — the Children of Israel …” (Ex. 7:4); and: “For you are a holy people to HaShem, your God; HaShem, your God, has chosen you to be for Him a treasured people above all peoples that are on the face of the Earth. Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did HaShem desire you and choose you, for you are the fewest of all the peoples. Rather, because of HaShem’s love for you and because He observes the oath that He swore to your forefathers did He take you out with a strong hand and redeem you from the house of slavery — from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. (Deut. 7:6-8); and: “For you are a holy people to HaShem, your God, and HaShem has chosen you for Himself to be a treasured people from among all the peoples on the face of the Earth.” (Deut. 14:2); and: “And HaShem has distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people, as He spoke to you, and to observe all His Commandments, and to make you supreme over all the nations that He made, for praise, for renown, and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to HaShem, your God, as He spoke.” (Deut. 26:18-19).
Any Jew is chosen from birth, automatically, while Gentiles have to undergo a very hard conversion. It is of no sense to fool you Gentiles with the “we’re chosen but not better than you” tune. Of course, it’s better to be chosen than not. Chosen-ness means the greatest imaginable advantage in the most valuable sphere of all, in the transcendental realm. The Torah is explicit: Jews were chosen in order to raise us up (Exodus 20:17). In our prayers, we thank G-d for having chosen us from among all nations and exalting us above all towns. It’s great to be chosen by the biggest authority in the universe. 😛
It’s hard to live chosen. Jews have many more religious obligations than Gentiles, and therefore more dangers of transgressing them. Being a good Jew is tremendously more difficult than being a good Gentile. Many Jews do not live up to their chosen-ness, but we don’t believe that the divine choice was in vain.
@ Honey Bee:
Don’t forget all of the Lands they stole from Mexico. Do you think all of those Mexican illegals is sort of a historical payback?
What goes around comes around? When I was a child my grandfathers best friend was a blind Indian who gave me a gold diamond ring which I still have. I have child portraits wearing the ring. I was 2 or three at the time. My great grandfather on my fathers side was and Indian trader somewhere out west, he even had an Indian name given to him by the tribes so I guess they liked him.
@ yamit82:
Well said.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Some were some were not they are nomads who do not recognize borders and made no permanent settlements. Most lived in Sinai and still do they are the same tribes or sub tribes. Some are related to tribes from the Hebron area who moved to the Negev because of the Jews. The Method is when the Jews would build a road the Bedouins would squat on both sides of the road. Then proceed to steal anything not nailed down when the Jews began to build. They steal water from the water pipes of the National water carrier pipes destroying millions of dollars we tax payers have to foot. They purposefully let their camels roam freely over highways and occasionally there are accidents and deaths. They do it on purpose sacrificing their own camels in order to endanger and kill Jews. Their encampments are lice and tic ridden and their animals spread it to our towns and animals. They are brigands who are putting our farmers out of business as they steal their stock, tractors irrigation piping and poisoning our dogs. In some cases they murder. I live in the Negev and have lived with them in Sinai, they will never be domesticated, a few of course but the vast majority never. My cardiologist a Bedouin did my angioplasty and is considered I’m told one of the best in Israel.
He and those like him can stay. He lives in a million dollar home in North Tel Aviv.
Now your two links. You are a real SOB. Jews are no different than any others under certain conditions and I never claimed otherwise. We are all sinners but comparing collective Jewish sins with you Christians we are by comparison saints. We also killed Egyptian POW’s in 67 and 73 too. War is war. Israel lost in our independence war 1% of our small population mostly males. 1% of Americas population would be in excess of 3 million Americans today. When I served in Korea and Nam I saw American soldiers do worse. The Russian raped and murdered every German female they could lay their hands on regardless of age. You throw one incident at me and expect me to admit we are as bad as you? We Jews will never be as bad as you, we are not perfect or saints but compared to Christian and Muslim Arabs…. No comparison, we are better more ethical and moral;I think too moral and ethical because it results in more Israeli casualties than necessary. I have served in both armies in war time. Believe me I know the difference. If you really cared about them you would support my position of separation of populations that’s the most humanitarian solution. You are a stupid Jew hating hypocrite. Your constant search for Jewish malfeasance to show we are no better than you is no different than you christians accusing we Jews as the same as Nazis for alleged treatment of the Arabs is a classic antisemitic calumny against Jews to alleviate any vestiges of christian conscience of what you have done to Jews in the past present and from all indications the future as well.
You had to search pretty hard for those articles from 2003. 😉
CuriousAmerican Said:
When did we Americans [including Jews] ever deal honestly with our Native Peoples?
CuriousAmerican Said:
And you are full of prunes,give the land you live on CA back to the Amer. Indiands who lived on the land first.
CuriousAmerican Said:
I don”t know where you livebut where I live there is very little native anything and ,I LIKE IT THE WAY IT IS, it is tough and strong like the people who live there. Go see the movie ” No Country for Old Men”.
You truly are a complete bigot.
The Bedouin were there in 1948.
If the Bedouin were so bad, how do you deal with this?
http://www.haaretz.com/i-saw-fit-to-remove-her-from-the-world-1.104034
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/nov/04/israel1
Everybody is human. We are all sinners.
Stop being so ruthless, Yamit.
Make an honest deal with them, You will still get most of the Negev for Jewish settlement.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Fair zoning for Bedouins is the Egyptian border them on the Egyptian side and we on our side. They are Bedouin not settlers. They move. they squat they roam, they steal, they murder, they lie. Their loyalty is to their tribes. They must be forced out or killed, no other way and that’s fair, to us at least and as for them f..k em. If you are so concerned for them invite them to be your neighbors. Adopt them, try to convert, them what-ever, as long as they are not here.
Every time you say something sensible you screw it up by your twisted conclusions. I unlike you have lived among them, even like some but this is not personal it’s a matter of our survival and I know what I’m talking about. In the end it will come to them or us.
So plant native flora. But leaving desert as it is will be folly. Deserts always increase unless met with flora.
Laura Said:
Where do they come from?
@ Laura:
Do you listen to Dennis Prager?
@ Honey Bee:
The Bedouins are squatters. The land doesn’t belong to them.
Israel’s biggest enemies are its own leftists.
CuriousAmerican Said:
I may be crazy,but not insane. I live in area where there are no trees. Planting non-native flora is discouraged.
In this I sort of agree.
If Israel reforested the land, the desert would disappear. The humidity coming off the Red Sea would be captured and it would fall as mist or rain.
We know this because during Roman times, North Africa was verdant and green. It was the Arabs who cut it down and then the Sahara ran to the ocean.
Eldad wants just to run the process in reverse.
There would be a climatic improvement. It would not take that long to see. Two decades would be sufficient.
Other countries have done it. The Irish reforested their country after they threw the British out of the South.
As for the Bedouins, there should be an honest deal made with them, but they should be told 50% of whatever land they get to keep they have to re-forest or they forfeit it. That is fair zoning practice.
Reforesting the Negev would capture most of the Red Sea humidity. It would eventually produce a wetter climate, and it might prevent moisture from floating on to Jordan.
You might even start to see streams regenerate from dried up wadis.
What?! Honey! Are you insane?
Trees prevent soil erosion, and mud runoff into streams.
Trees grab mist – even small amounts – from the air.
Sand reflects heat which heats and dries up the air.
Tree leaves use the sun and clorophyll. They cool the ground and air.
Moisture can then be held in the air and is more likely to either
create mist or the occasional rain.
Maybe not initially, but over time trees will preserve water resources.
There has to be hudmidity coming off the Red Sea. If it hits the Negev, the heat will keep it in the air.
If the Negev starts to get planted, and some of the sun is converted via cholophyll into leaves, then less heat is in the air, and some moisture will drop either in mist or rain.
I can guarantee you that after 70 years of planting trees in Israel, the trees capture more humidity and rain, which otherwise would have floated on to Jordan.
North Africa was once greener under Roman rule. When the Arabs came they cut down trees and now you have desertification.
What make the Bedouin’s plight so different then that of the American Indians? Isn’t the Negev a desert,why plant trees in a desert. Newcomers plant trees here,trees that grow in the Eastern USA,all the trees do is use precious water resourses.
NormanF Said:
Interesting point. If those who have first hand knowledge are of this persuasion then woe is israel.
yamit82 Said:
money usually controls politicians and not vice versa.
yamit82 Said:
May be mutual back-scratching. This comes on top of Netanyahu issuing an illegal order barring MK Moshe Feiglin from going up to the Temple Mount. The inescapable conclusion is the highest authorities in Israel are afraid of the Arabs and prefer not to force a fight with them. As a result, the Jewish State is not sovereign anywhere – not on the Temple Mount, not in the Negev and not in its own prisons. In a word, the Jewish people are not the masters in their own home.
Nor sure the order did not come down from the highest Israeli political authority?
Look who is running the JNF
Ronald Lauder, Chairman Happens to be BB’s main deep pockets supporter and was involved as BB’s point man in negotiations with Syria. His politics and loyalties are far to the left of Meretz.
I wonder who controls who BB- Lauder or Lauder-BB?