“Israel’s Ecocide in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with a Focus on the Jewish National Fund”
A joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the oPt by the Housing and Land Rights Network–Habitat International Coalition, the Land Research Center, and the Palestinian Environmental NGO Network.
The report presents input to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the oPt in response to her call for inputs on the subject of environmental destruction and its human rights impacts in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory. This joint submission focuses on the Jewish National Fund (JNF/KKL) as the main institution responsible for “ecocide” across historic Palestine, including the occupied territory. It uses the 2021 Independent Expert Panel definition: unlawful or wanton acts committed knowing there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long-term environmental damage. It notes that Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji proposed adding this crime to the Rome Statute in 2024. The authors argue that ecocide can work alongside population transfer, genocide and “domicide” by reshaping the land so that Indigenous inhabitants cannot return.
JNF’s status and history. Founded in 1901, JNF is described as a parastatal state organ, not an NGO. The report notes that its 2007 bid for UN ECOSOC consultative status was rejected. JNF’s charter restricts its benefits to people of “Jewish religion, race or descent,” and the authors say this helped shape a discriminatory “Jewish nationality” in Israeli law. They explore JNF ties to the 1948 Nakba as author of the criminal Plan Dalet and over 530 villages Zionist forces depopulated in executing that doctrine. As a benefit, JNF received about 220,000 hectares of refugee land in 1949–50. Affiliates such as Amidar and Himanuta are presented as surrogates continuing land dispossession today.
The ecological record. The authors make three main charges:
- Planting methods: burning native vegetation, bulldozing, and using pesticides, then planting non-native Aleppo pine monocultures. These pines acidify the soil, reduce biodiversity, burn easily, and need irrigation.
- Wetland drainage: draining the Hula wetlands in the 1950s, which contributed to species extinctions and depleted the Jordan River.
- Desertification: dark forest canopies in arid areas such as Yatir absorb heat. The report cites Weizmann and Technion research questioning the climate benefits, while acknowledging that the science is contested.
Greenwashing and land control. The report says forests were planted over at least 86 destroyed villages, citing Canada Park, built on Latrun-area villages razed in 1967. Planting trees, or declaring “nature reserves” (about 13% of the West Bank, 76 areas), is described as a legal tool to block Palestinian building, grazing and farming, while settlements expand into the same zones. In the Naqab, the Bedouin village of al-Araqib has reportedly been demolished 244 times in connection with JNF afforestation. The report says a 2019 wildfire near Jerusalem exposed Palestinian agricultural terraces hidden under the forests.
Gaza. The coastal aquifer supplies about 86% of Gaza’s water and is being over-extracted roughly threefold. The report attributes the pressure on it to:
It says the 2007 blockade made the situation worse.
JNF controls about 13% of land in Israel with limited accountability. It operates as a tax-exempt charity in about 50 countries, including 34 Human Rights Council members. Canada revoked its charitable status in 2024.
Recommendations:
Photo: JNF plantation in the Naqab. Source: spring.
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