Nov 12, 2011
report by USACBI
12 November 2011
Original article at USACBI
Students Against Israeli Apartheid at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada led a protest at Carleton University on November 7, 2011 against the University’s official sponsorship of a fundraising dinner for the Jewish National Fund, including Carleton’s president, Roseann Runte, serving as honourary co-chair of the dinner.
The students pointed to the JNF’s major role in the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, and its ongoing involvement in ethnic cleansing in Palestine. The JNF, owner of 13% of the land in the State of Israel, officially refuses to rent, lease, or sell its land to non-Jews – most centrally, in this case, Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel. The JNF has been involved in ongoing ‘settlement’ activities to displace Palestinian villages and towns inside Israel, as well as its notorious tree-planting campaigns, which installed thousands of non-native, European and North American trees such as pine trees over large swaths of land, covering and hiding Palestinian villages destroyed by Israeli military forces in the Nakba. The students particularly targeted Canada Park, a JNF-implanted forest installed over the ruins of two Palestinian villages destroyed by the Israeli army in the 1967 war, to which JNF Canada committed millions of tax-exempt dollars.
Runte, who has in the past stated that she cannot “take sides” on political issues, continued to maintain that her participation as an official co-chair and endorser of the JNF dinner was somehow an apolitical event. At the same time that the University’s administration is listed as a sponsor of the Jewish National Fund, and its ethnic cleansing projects in Palestine, it simultaneously has prevented students from bringing their divestment campaign to the Carleton University governing board and threatened students with punishment if they disrupt the meeting to make their silenced voices heard. Carleton has also, in the past, prohibited the distribution of a poster advertising Israeli apartheid week, deeming it offensive. The poster, linked here, includes a widely distributed cartoon depicting Israel’s war on Gaza, for which the University’s administration saw fit to accuse students of violating human rights codes.
Runte refused to remove her name, or the university’s official sponsorship, from the JNF dinner, but the students’ protest has made it clear that Carleton’s students do not stand – or dine – with apartheid.
For more information:
– Carleton University Students Taking Sides on Israeli Apartheid
– Students Against Israeli Apartheid – Carleton
Nov 11, 2011
11 November 2011
Stop the JNF Campaign
Activists campaigning for equal rights of all citizens inside Israel claim the Jewish National Fund (JNF) is “on the retreat” since they are holding their 110th anniversary event at a secret location in London this weekend for fear of protests.
Tom Evans of the Stop the JNF Campaign noted that “in previous years the JNF were extremely confident of their brand and always announced high profile events months in advance, with celebrity keynote speakers such as Bill Clinton”. Evans believes that, “the secrecy enveloping this key anniversary event shows clearly they understand that support for Israel, and the continuing role of the JNF in the dispossession of Palestinians is making them a toxic brand.”
The JNF is now losing key political patronage. Whereas past leaders of all three main British political parties invariably became JNF honorary patrons, Prime Minister David Cameron resigned his Honorary Patronage in May, a first for any British Prime Minister, while Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband also broke with the tradition of their own parties and both declined the invitation to become JNF honorary patrons.
The JNF claims to be “Israel’s leading humanitarian and environmental charity”, a claim rejected as ‘greenwash’ by environmental charities across the world. There is increasing uneasiness about the organisation’s role in the Israeli government policy of discrimination against non-Jews, particularly in the destruction of Palestinian Bedouin villages in the Negev, the forced removal of the villagers to what campaigners refer to as a process of concentration and their replacement with Jewish-only settlements. Campaigners have called this process ‘ethnic cleansing’ and point to the effective subsidy of the JNF’s activities through its charitable, tax-exempt status here in the UK.
Only last month the Israeli cabinet approved plans for a large-scale ‘transfer’ of 30,000 Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab (Negev) desert from their lands. A further plan schedules the eviction of 27,000 Bedouin from their lands in the West Bank.
An Early Day Motion to remove the charitable status of the JNF, tabled by MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Gerald Kaufman in March, continues to gain the support of MPs. So far 48 MPs have signed to show their belief that there is “just cause to consider revocation of the JNF’s charitable status in the UK”.
ENDS
Notes for editors:
1. The Stop the JNF Campaign is an international campaign aimed at ending the role of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael) (JNF-KKL) in:
– the on-going displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their land
– the theft of their property
– the funding of historic and present day colonies, and
– the destruction of the natural environment.
The Jewish National Fund was established in 1901 by the World Zionist Organisation and mandated to obtain land for the sole use of persons of ‘Jewish faith, race or ancestry’. It was first registered in the UK, and has retained a fundraising and propaganda function in Britain since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Through its landholdings and its influence on the Israel Land Authority, the JNF controls 93% of the land in Israel on which it practices its ethnic exclusion policies.
The JNF continues to serve as a global fundraiser for Israeli ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid. Despite its role in a State institution of Israel (the Israel Land Authority) and in institutionalized racism and apartheid, the JNF and its affiliate organisations enjoy charitable status in over 50 countries.
For further information, contact uk@stopthejnf.org, 07931200361
Website: www.stopthejnf.org.uk
2. JNF UK 110th anniversary event
http://t.co/XnoUmp2O
3. ‘Cameron drops Israel ‘racist’ charity’, 27 May 2011
Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release
https://www.stopthejnf.org//greatbritain_campaignnews_pressrelease27may2011.html
4. Scottish Green Party reject ‘green’ claims of charity involved in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
31 October 2011
Friends of the Earth Scotland endorses call for action against the JNF
28 May 2011
5. The JNF in the Negev (Naqab)
‘Shattering Israel’s image of ‘democracy’’, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/03/israel-negev
‘Cameron-backed charity accused of discriminating against non-Jews’, 10 June 2010
http://www.jnews.org.uk/news/cameron-backed-charity-accused-of-discriminating-against-non-jews
‘The Israelis keep bulldozing their village, but still the Bedouin will not give up their land’, The Guardian, 1 March 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/01/israelis-demolish-bedouin-village
‘Stop creating forests that are destroying Bedouin lives’, Amnesty International, 11 April 2011
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/stop-destruction-bedouin-village-and-its-inhabitants%E2%80%99-livelihoods-5
6. Israeli government approves plans to transfer 30,000 Palestinian Bedouin by Mansour Nsasra
The Electronic Intifada, 1 October 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-government-approves-plans-transfer-30000-palestinian-bedouin/10444#.Tq56c3JDmIw
7. Early day motion 1677, JEWISH NATIONAL FUND, Session: 2010-12
“That this House welcomes the Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Campaign launched on 30 March 2011 by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others to inform the public about the JNF – Karen Kayemet L’Yisrael, its ongoing illegal expropriation of Palestinian land, concealing of destroyed Palestinian villages beneath parks and forests, and prevention of refugees from returning to their homes; notes that the JNF’s constitution is explicitly discriminatory by stating that land and property will never be rented, leased or sold to non-Jews; further notes that the UN rejected the JNF USA’s application for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council on the ground that it violates the principles of the UN Charter on Human Rights; regrets that the Prime Ministeris a JNF honorary patron; and believes that there is just cause to consider revocation of the JNF’s charitable status in the UK.”
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/1677
Oct 31, 2011
31 October 2011
Stop the JNF Campaign
The Scottish Green Party, yesterday condemned the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a British charity implicated in human rights violations in Israel. At its annual conference in Aberdeen, delegates unanimously supported a motion against the JNF and called for its charitable status to be revoked.
In May of this year, David Cameron resigned as honorary patron of the JNF, the first time in the history of the JNF that a British Prime Minister has not held this position. The Scottish Greens are the first elected party overtly to condemn the JNF.
The JNF claims to be ‘green’ because of its practice of planting trees in Palestine / Israel. Delegates heard that the JNF used tree planting to cover up the remains of Palestinian villages destroyed after Zionist armed militias expelled the inhabitants. Speakers described how this involvement in ethnic cleansing has been going on throughout the organisation’s history of over 100 years, especially following military expansion in 1948 and 1967; and that the JNF continues to be involved in the expulsion of Palestinian Bedouin in the Negev desert, to create and fund Jewish-only parks and settlements. Campaigners argue that these actions amount to the crimes of ‘apartheid’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’, illegal in international law.
The Scottish Greens condemned the JNF for using the ‘green’ label to practice crimes against the Palestinian people. The Greens add their endorsement to an international campaign to stop the JNF, launched by Palestinian civil society and international solidarity activists including Jewish anti-Zionists earlier this year.
Fiona Napier, attending the conference on behalf of the Stop the JNF Campaign, explained, “The JNF practices are being used by the Israeli state to prevent the right of return for refugees of the Nakba (catastrophe) when 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes for the establishment of the state of Israel.” Terry Gallogly of the Stop the JNF organising committee commented: “The importance of this vote should not be underestimated by anyone, it is a big step towards destroying the JNF’s attempt to greenwash its ethnic cleansing.”
The motion was proposed by Green Party member Dr Eurig Scandrett, who participated in a study tour of the JNF’s activities in Israel and the West Bank last year. Dr Scandrett said:
“Having witnessed the remains of Palestinian villages on JNF land in Israel, and heard an old woman tell her story of being forcibly driven out from one of those villages as a young mother over 60 years ago, I felt I had to do something about this organisation. There are signs in ‘British park’, proudly announcing that it was funded by JNF supporters in Glasgow, who were probably unaware that their donations were going towards ethnic cleansing.”
“I’m delighted that there has been this unanimous vote at conference for the Scottish Green Party to take a stand against the JNF, and our MSPs and Councillors will now take action to challenge the organisation’s activities in Scotland.”
Last month the Israeli cabinet approved plans for a large-scale ‘transfer’ of 30,000 Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab (Negev) desert from their ancestral lands and a further plan schedules the eviction of 27,000 Bedouin from their lands in the West Bank.
An Early Day Motion, tabled by Jeremy Corbyn and Gerald Kaufman in March is gaining support from MPs who believe that there is “just cause to consider revocation of the JNF’s charitable status in the UK”.
ENDS
Notes for editors:
1. Motion passed at the SGP annual conference on 30th October 2011
“The Scottish Green Party condemns the Jewish National Fund for its activities in excluding non-Jews from Israeli land and denounces the organisation for claiming to be an ecological agency. The SGP endorses the international call for action against the JNF and supports efforts to revoke its charitable status in the UK.”
2. The Stop the JNF Campaign is an international campaign aimed at ending the role of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael) (JNF-KKL) in:
– the on-going displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their land
– the theft of their property
– the funding of historic and present day colonies, and
– the destruction of the natural environment.
The Jewish National Fund was established in 1901 by the World Zionist Organisation and mandated to obtain land for the sole use of persons of ‘Jewish faith, race or ancestry’. It was first registered in the UK, and has retained a fundraising and propaganda function in Britain since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Through its landholdings and its influence on the Israel Land Authority, the JNF controls 93% of the land in Israel on which it practices its ethnic exclusion policies.
The JNF continues to serve as a global fundraiser for Israeli ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid. Despite its role in a State institution of Israel (the Israel Land Authority) and in institutionalized racism and apartheid, the JNF and its affiliate organisations enjoy charitable status in over 50 countries.
For further information, contact uk@stopthejnf.org, 07931200361
Website: www.stopthejnf.org.uk
3. ‘Cameron drops Israel ‘racist’ charity’, 27 May 2011
Stop the JNF Campaign: Media Release
https://www.stopthejnf.org//greatbritain_campaignnews_pressrelease27may2011.html
4. Extract from ‘The British Park’ by Uri Davis, JNF e-book volume 1, p21
“The JNF-UK, as in other countries in Europe and the Americas, is a registered charity. The planting of the British Park over the lands of destroyed Palestinian villages, including Ajjur and Zakariyya, can in no way be described as ‘charitable’. Rather it ought to be classified as an act and as a policy of complicity with war crimes. The British Park and the recreational facility developed in the shade of its forest trees serve to veil from critical public view war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army in the course of, and in the wake of, the 1948 war. This policy of complicity with war crimes has been maintained by subsequent Israeli Governments, underpinned by Acts of Parliament such as the Jewish National Fund Law of 1950 and the Covenant signed between the JNF and the state of Israel in 1961.”
https://www.stopthejnf.org//documents/JNFeBookVol1ed2x.pdf
5. The JNF in the Negev (Naqab)
‘Shattering Israel’s image of ‘democracy’’, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/03/israel-negev
‘Cameron-backed charity accused of discriminating against non-Jews’, 10 June 2010
http://www.jnews.org.uk/news/cameron-backed-charity-accused-of-discriminating-against-non-jews
‘The Israelis keep bulldozing their village, but still the Bedouin will not give up their land’, The Guardian, 1 March 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/01/israelis-demolish-bedouin-village
‘Stop creating forests that are destroying Bedouin lives’, Amnesty International, 11 April 2011
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/stop-destruction-bedouin-village-and-its-inhabitants%E2%80%99-livelihoods-5
6. Israeli government approves plans to transfer 30,000 Palestinian Bedouin by Mansour Nsasra
The Electronic Intifada, 1 October 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-government-approves-plans-transfer-30000-palestinian-bedouin/10444#.Tq56c3JDmIw
7. Early day motion 1677, JEWISH NATIONAL FUND, Session: 2010-12
“That this House welcomes the Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Campaign launched on 30 March 2011 by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others to inform the public about the JNF – Karen Kayemet L’Yisrael, its ongoing illegal expropriation of Palestinian land, concealing of destroyed Palestinian villages beneath parks and forests, and prevention of refugees from returning to their homes; notes that the JNF’s constitution is explicitly discriminatory by stating that land and property will never be rented, leased or sold to non-Jews; further notes that the UN rejected the JNF USA’s application for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council on the ground that it violates the principles of the UN Charter on Human Rights; regrets that the Prime Ministeris a JNF honorary patron; and believes that there is just cause to consider revocation of the JNF’s charitable status in the UK.”
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/1677
Jun 10, 2011
10 June 2011
Press release: Land Annexation Society
A group of international artists staged a performance today in a Turkish branch of luxury cosmetics store Clinique in protest against its chairman’s involvement with Israeli ethnic cleansing and occupation in Palestine. This is the latest action in the growing campaign against the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a Zionist organisation which facilitates the transfer of Palestinian land to Jews while parading as an environmental charity.
Five members of performance arts group Rezoning Group entered the store in Istanbul dressed up as members of the JNF and proceeded to “plant” trees over the Clinique shop space on Friday 10th June, forcing the store to temporarily close.
This was to draw a parallel with the actions of the JNF, which has been involved in forcibly appropriating Palestinian homes and ”rezoning” them under an ecological reforestation scheme. By this “planting” of trees without prior announcement or permission, the Rezoning Group say they wish to highlight the very activity engaged in by the JNF on Palestinian lands.
Today’s action was taken in response to the call out from the ‘Stop the JNF’ campaign, in solidarity with Palestinian refugees from the Latrun area between Tel Aviv and Jerusaleum. These people lost their homes on June 5th, 1967, when 3 villages were destroyed by the Israeli military. The JNF subsequently took ownership of the land and planted ‘Canada Park’ where they once lived, erasing traces of the villages that once stood in their place. Each year on June 5th the refugees attempt to return home.(1)
The Clinique cosmetics retailer was chosen as a target due to its chairman, Ron Lauder, who also sits as the chairman of the JNF. Activists called on customers to boycott Clinique as part of the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against companies involved with or profiting from the violation of Palestinian rights.(2)
This marks the second time in a month that a company linked to Ron Lauder has been targeted due to his involvement with the JNF. In May a Greekbranch of cosmetics store Estee Lauder in the city of Thessanoliki was host to a similar performance by activists highlighting chairman Lauder’s activities with the JNF. This came two days after UK Prime Minister David Cameron stepped down as honorary patron due to parliamentary criticism of its activities.
Following the establishment of the state of Israel, the JNF was given responsibility for developing lands expropriated by the government – including 531 Palestinian villages destroyed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli state. According to the Stop The JNF campaign, parks and forests have been planted in order to cover the traces of villages destroyed in 1948 and 1967 . Additionally, it is accused of aiding the illegal confiscation of Palestinian lands on the basis that the owners were “absent”.(3)
Today the JNF holds over half of the seats on the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Council, a state institution that sets policy for 93% of Israeli land held in the public domain, while the JNF itself directly holds 13% of such land (4). In recent years there have been legislative attempts to bring into law the JNF policy of preserving land exclusively for Jews while a bill calling for equal allocation of land among Jews and Arabs was last year rejected (6).
Currently the JNF is involved in land and water theft from Bedouin communities in the Negev (7) and illegally acquiring lands and houses in occupied Jerusalem through its private subsidiary Hemnuta (8).
Toni Zigler of Rezoning Group said:
“Today, close to the anniversary of the attack on the Mavi Marmara peace flotilla by the Israeli military, we targeted a company due to its links with the JNF. This is an organisation that is an active partner in annexation of Palestinian lands.
“The JNF is instrumental in the Israeli authorities erasing the memory of the Palestinians who lived in the occupied territories. Adding insult to injury many of these sites are now redesignated as nature reserves or leisure parks which feeds into the JNF’s projection of a benign image.
High resolution photos and video footage available.
For more details contact Joe Phillips on 00 90 539 257 0451
NOTES TO EDITOR:
1. http://www..stopthejnf.org/actionalerts_5june2011.html
2. http://www.bdsmovement.net/
3. http://electronicintifada.net/content/e-book-jewish-national-funds-role-colonization-palestine-released/1029
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Land_Administration
5. http://www.badil.org/en/al-majdal/item/1404-mahajneh-jnf-and-israeli-law
6. http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-rejects-bill-allocating-equal-land-to-jews-and-arabs-1.260703
7. http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/03/on-land-day-the-jewish-national-funds-racist-legacy-is-exposed/
8. https://www.stopthejnf.org//about.html
May 28, 2011
28 May 2011
Press release: Land Annexation Society
International activists today occupied a Greek branch of luxury cosmetics store Estee Lauder in protest against its chairman’s involvement with Israeli ethnic cleansing and occupation in Palestine. This is the latest in the growing campaign against the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a Zionist organisation which facilitates the transfer of Palestinian land to Jews while parading as an environmental charity.
Six members of performance arts group Land Annexation Society entered the store in Thessanoliki, Greece dressed in suits as members of the JNF and proceeded to “plant” trees over the Estee Lauder shop space on Saturday, 28th May. Flyers were distributed to shoppers and staff informing them that “this Estee Lauder space is currently being rezoned”.
This was to draw a parallel with the actions of the JNF, which has been involved in forcibly appropriating Palestinian homes and ”rezoning” them under an ecological reforestation scheme. By this “planting” of trees without prior announcement or permission, the Land Annexation Society say they wish to highlight the very activity engaged in by the JNF on Palestinian lands.
The action comes a day after the JNF hit the headlines in the UK, with British Prime Minister stepping down from his honorary patronage of the organisation following a letter from the Stop The JNF. This followed calls in the UK Parliament for the JNF’s charitable status to be revokedi.
The Estee Lauder cosmetics retailer was chosen as a target due to its chairman, Ron Lauder, who also sits as the chairman of the JNF. Activists called on customers to boycott Estee Lauder as part of the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against companies involved with or profiting from the violation of Palestinian rights.1
Following the establishment of the state of Israel, the JNF was given responsibility for developing lands expropriated by the government – including 531 Palestinian villages destroyed in a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli state. According to the Stop The JNF campaign, parks and forests have been planted in order to cover the traces of villages destroyed in 1948 and 19672. Additionally, it is accused of aiding the illegal confiscation of Palestinian lands on the basis that the owners were “absent”3.
Today the JNF holds over half of the seats on the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Council, a state institution that sets policy for 93% of Israeli land held in the public domain, while the JNF itself directly holds 13% of such land4. In recent years there have been legislative attempts to bring into law the JNF policy of preserving land exclusively for Jews5 while a bill calling for equal allocation of land among Jews and Arabs was last year rejected.6
Currently the JNF is involved in land and water theft from Bedouin communities7 in the Negev and illegally acquiring lands and houses in occupied Jerusalem through its private subsidiary Hemnuta8.
Eli Greenbaum of Land Annexation Society said: “The JNF is an organisation driven by a racist ideology according to which land in Israel and Palestine is the exclusive reserve of Jews. It plays an integral role in the Israeli state’s illegal colonisation of lands yet tries to conceal its activities under the mask of an environmental charity.
“Our performance today is intended to bring to the attention of Estee Lauder workers and customers, and an international audience, the JNF and Ron Lauder’s complicity in this ethnic cleansing”.
For more details contact Joe Phillips on 00 30 699 646 1662.
NOTES TO EDITOR:
i) http://jfjfp.com/?p=22446
1 http://www.bdsmovement.net/
2 https://www.stopthejnf.org//about.html
3 http://electronicintifada.net/content/e-book-jewish-national-funds-role-colonization-palestine-released/1029
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Land_Administration
5 http://www.badil.org/en/al-majdal/item/1404-mahajneh-jnf-and-israeli-law,
6 http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-rejects-bill-allocating-equal-land-to-jews-and-arabs-1.260703
7 http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/03/on-land-day-the-jewish-national-funds-racist-legacy-is-exposed/
8 https://www.stopthejnf.org//about.html
May 28, 2011
28 May 2011
Stop the JNF Campaign
Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation today voted unanimously to support the campaign to Stop the JNF.
Stan Blackley
Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland
“Our members at today’s AGM voted overwhelmingly to endorse the international call to stop the JNF. At today’s land rights conference the activities of the JNF were brought to the attention of our members, supporters and interested members of the public. Our organisation is pleased to join the call for the revocation for the JNF’s charitable status in the UK and to help raise awareness on this little known issue.”
Andy Wightman
Author of ‘Who Owns Scotland’ and ‘The Poor had no Lawyers’, independent writer and researcher on issues of land and democracy. Keynote speaker (‘Land rights in Scotland and Palestine’) at 2011 Friends of the Earth Scotland Conference Land Rights Conference in Edinburgh.
“I am delighted that Friends of the Earth Scotland has voted to endorse the call to stop the JNF. The JNF has played a central role in the expropriation of Palestinian land and it is high time that it was exposed for the crimes it has been complicit in committing.”
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report by USACBI
