[WCUSP] Fw: JNF Parks to Mark Demolished Palestinian Villages

[Libby or Mort Frank]

(Pretty amazing!, Libby)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jewish Peace News " <jpn at jewishpeacenews.net>
To: <LMFrank1 at verizon.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 11:57 AM
Subject: JNF Parks to Mark Demolished Palestinian Villages


>
> According to this article, the Jewish National Fund has consented to 
> placing signs in some of its parks that will acknowledge the prior 
> existence of a Palestinian village on that land. This breakthrough 
> development seems to be the result of years of advocacy by Zochrot 
> (http://www.zochrot.org/index.php?lang=english) an organization dedicated 
> to raising awareness of the catastrophe (Nakba) that befell the 
> Palestinian people with the establishment of Israel in 1948. More than 500 
> Palestinian villages were destroyed during and after the 1948 war, when 
> around 750,000 Palestinians were made refugees. The land of these 
> destroyed villages (along with other Palestinian land) was confiscated by 
> the new state of Israel, and Jewish settlements, parks and nature reserves 
> were built atop the ruins. Zochrot's website is a fantastic resource for 
> information and analysis of 1948 and its aftermath, including testimonies 
> from Palestinians about their villages and, for the Hebrew reader, 
> interactive
> maps of contemporary Israel that also show the Palestinian life that used 
> to exist there (http://www.zochrot.org/index.php?id=74).
>
>
> Reacting to the JNF's decision, Zochrot's Executive Director Eitan 
> Bronstein said that the decision shows that "The sky won't fall if we 
> admit that we expelled Arabs and demolished villages." Indeed. This JNF 
> decision is exciting for those Jews and others who work to recover, 
> acknowledge and publicize this long-suppressed and denied chapter of 
> Palestinian and Israeli history. Hopefully this decision is just one of 
> many that will lead towards real recognition of what the state of Israel, 
> and especially the 1948 Nakba, has meant and continues to mean for 
> Palestinians.
>
>
> Sarah Anne Minkin
>
>
> February 3, 2008
>
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950689.html
>
> Report: JNF parks to mark demolished Palestinian villages
> By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
>
>
> An organization campaigning for the commemoration of Arab villages 
> destroyed in the 1948 War of Independence said that the Jewish National 
> Fund has agreed to place signs in parks on which former villages once 
> stood.
>
> During the War of Independence in 1948, about 500 Palestinian villages 
> were demolished. Some of their residents fled, fearing the approaching 
> Jewish forces, and others were actively expelled.
>
> Most of the villages have been replaced with new settlements, parks and 
> nature reserves. The historical existence of only a handful of them is 
> mentioned in some capacity on the land they used to occupy.
>
> "Zochrot" (Remembering), an organization advocating the right of return of 
> Palestinian refugees, has been leading for some years a campaign to 
> commemorate the demolished Palestinian villages in Israel. Last week it 
> bore fruit.
>
> JNF officials said that in Israeli parks that stand on former Arab 
> villages where signs that tell the history of the area are fixed, these 
> will include information about the defunct villages.
>
> In addition to 12 villages that are already mentioned in JNF parks, 31 
> others will reportedly be commemorated in national parks nationwide. Among 
> them are Amuka in Biriya Forest, Reihaniyya in Ramat Menashe Park, Jimzu 
> in Ben Shemen Forest and Saraa in Tzora Forest.
>
> Zochrot said that the JNF decision is an "interestingly radical change." 
> Director Eitan Bronstein told Haaretz that he thinks "today there is more 
> openness about the issue, and it is beginning to be less menacing. The sky 
> won't fall if we admit that we expelled Arabs and demolished villages."
>
> Most villages were demolished by IDF troops during the 1948 war, and 
> others were handed over to the newborn state. Zochrot says that the land 
> of 86 demolished villages is in the boundaries of JNF parks.
>
> A few years ago Zochrot petitioned the High Court of Justice, demanding 
> that the West Bank villages of Yalo and Emmaus, which were demolished in 
> 1967, after the Six Day War, be mentioned in Canada Park near Latrun, to 
> which their lands were annexed. In 2005, following the petition, the JNF 
> agreed to fix signs commemorating the villages, but they were vandalized 
> and removed a few weeks later.
>
> In light of the new decision, Zochrot will make information from its 
> database available to JNF wardens.
>
> The JNF declined to officially confirm, but conceded that a discussion on 
> the matter took place last week.
>
>
> ................................................................
> --------
> Jewish Peace News editors:
> Joel Beinin
> Racheli Gai
> Rela Mazali
> Sarah Anne Minkin
> Judith Norman
> Lincoln Shlensky
> Alistair Welchman
> -------
>
> Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To 
> subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to 
> www.jewishpeacenews.net
>