Love of the Land: Israel's Unwavering Guardsmen

Israel's Unwavering Guardsmen

Caroline Glick
Carolineglick.com
26 March '10

As the local and international press corps converged on Jerusalem's Old City to cover the Arab riots at the Temple Mount two weeks ago, little mention was made of the fact that Jerusalem was not the only flashpoint. In Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israeli Arab rioters supported by far-left protesters stoned buses. Israeli Arabs firebombed motorists on Highway 443 and on the roads to Beersheba. In the North, cars were stoned.

These little-reported attacks are the consequence of one of the most dangerous emerging threats to Israel's national survival: the rapidly escalating radicalization of Israel's Arab citizens.

Over the past decade and at a frenzied pace since the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, acting at least partially at the direction of the Israeli Islamic Movement and with the active support of the far left, Israeli Arabs and Beduin have launched a massive assault on the state. The relevant national authorities including the courts, the state prosecution, the police, the IDF, the Jewish National Fund, the Israel Lands Authority and the Ministry of Interior have failed to defend against it.

Firebombing Jewish-owned vehicles is small potatoes in comparison to developments at the center of mass of the Israeli Arab onslaught: state land. Over the past decade, Israeli Arabs have seized millions of dunams of state land.

The dimensions of this phenomenon were spelled out in last year's State Comptroller's Report. While the local and international Left pillories Israel when the state tries to demolish a handful of the thousands of illegal Arab buildings in Jerusalem, what goes unmentioned is that by the end of 2007 there were more than 100,000 illegally built structures in Israel. The overwhelming majority were constructed on state land seized by Arab land thieves in the Negev and the Galilee. By the end of 2009, the number of illegal buildings grew to an estimated 150,000. The scope of the theft is so vast that the Comptroller's Report referred to it as a "national scourge."

(Read full article)

If you were inspired by the story of the New Israeli Guardsmen (Hashomer Hahadash) and would like to support their efforts, here is the information you need to contribute.

Love of the Land: Israel's Unwavering Guardsmen

Love of the Land: A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees

A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees

Eli Ashkenazi
Haaretz
29 November 09

(See ZOA response below)

Hirui Amara excitedly held a bunch of pine seedlings and was quick to dip their soft roots in a bucket of water. Several seconds later he was next to an elderly man, and helped him plant one of the seedlings.

This was the end of an exciting day for Amara, who heads a Jewish National Fund greenhouse at Golani Junction.

Amara and five other JNF employees took part, 10 days ago, in an extraordinary project that involves the JNF assisting in planting trees in the area where a new Palestinian city, Ruwabi, is scheduled to be built north of Ramallah. The name means "City of Hills."

As a first step, the JNF contributed 3,000 tree seedlings for planting in what is meant to be a forested area on the edges of the new city. At the same time, the forestry experts of the JNF have been advising the city planners on the matter.

Suhil Zaydan, one of the JNF's forestry managers, is serving as liaison between the organization and the city planers.

"There have been a number of meetings, both at the location where the city will be built and also at the JNF greenhouses," he says. "We have contributed with our know-how, by advising on how to prepare the ground for the planting and how public gardens should be planned, as well as the best times for planting, and what kinds of trees it is preferable to plant. We did not talk about politics and we shall not talk about it - we deal with trees and understand forestry, botany and greenhouses."

The ambitious project of building a city from scratch has drawn an estimated investment of $800 million, mostly from Palestinian and Qatari sources.

The plan is for 6,000 housing units over a 6,300 dunam area that is supposed to provide housing for nearly 40,000 people and employ some 10,000 Palestinian workers. The project is aimed at the Palestinian middle class. (Full article)

Click here "ZOA Criticizes J.N.F. For Donating 3,000 Trees To Palestinian Authority"

Gary N. was kind enough to send me JNF's reply to his query.

"Shalom Yosef,
This is JNF's (Jewish National Fund (Hebrew: קרן קימת לישראל, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael) reply to my query about their tree donation: "I hope this well help clarify. None of the trees bought by JNF-KKL donors were used for this purpose. KKL grows approximately three million saplings a year; less than one million are bought by donors worldwide. These saplings came from a stock that KKL utilizes for international forestry and related projects. KKL was appointed national foresters by the Israeli government. As such, we work with many countries together with the U.S. Forest Service in their international forestry department, the Canadian Forest Service, the Australian Forest Service, and many others, and we a proud member of the International Arid Lands Consortium. We have worked with Rwanda, Indonesia, E. Timor, Jordan, just to name a few countries, sharing our expertise with them and teaching them how to cultivate and care for the land. We hope to always be able to share our knowledge with the world for positive uses.Beyond tree planting, our priorities are focused on building new lives for Gaza evacuees, building the Negev for tomorrow’s generations, and finding answers to the drought in Israel. For these and many other reasons, JNF is the central address for connecting to Israel."

Regards, Jenn Lonschein,

Assistant Marketing Manager,
Jewish National Fund.

Sorry, This does not satisfy me, at all.

Love of the Land: A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees