The journalist Raviv Drucker published an internal document from the financial department of the Jewish National Fund on his blog (original piece, in Hebrew). The document details how much the JNF spends on "development initiatives" for settlers in the occupied West Bank.

So, what’s on the list? For example, the document mentions the JNF building a "promenade" in the Har Gilo settlement in Gush Etzion costing 2.5 million ILS, but only "on condition that the promenade be called "The JNF Promenade." There is a "scenic viewpoint and park" built by the JNF in the Mitzpe Yericho settlement near Jericho, costing 600,000 ILS. There is even a "historical heritage site" built in the Rosh Tzurim settlement, one of the settlements surrounding Bethlehem, for 400,000 ILS. And of course, the settlers of Hebron make an appearance as well. Lots of infrastructure, agricultural paths and even a bit of neighborhood renewal.

promenade in Sansana settllement, built by JNF

Promenade in Sansana settlement, built by the JNF.

 

To the best of our knowledge, this is a very partial list. For instance, the big JNF development projects for water-robbing settlements in the Jordan Valley don't make a single appearance here. These are probably being hidden in other budget items. And the land-purchasing activities, if they are run through the JNF's subsidiary “Himanuta”, are not shown here.

But even based on this partial calculation, that's about 188.5 millions ILS in ten years, and this is only the small change used to pay for gifts for the settlers, just like that, to maintain good relations with the colonizers on this side of the Green Line. And we haven't even mentioned the huge budgets for settlements within the Green Line. As a reminder: the JNF's annual income stands at about ILS 1 billion. Tax exempt, and totally without oversight.

השקעות קק"ל בישע

The bottom line: 185 million ILS spent by JNF in the west bank in 10 years.

 

After reading this list of "gifts" from the JNF to the settlements, you might ask "so what?" What does it matter that the JNF built a "secure agricultural road" for the Beit-El mega-settlement, located near Ramallah, in 2003? We dug a little and found this: in 2003, the JNF built a "promenade" that connects Beit El to an illegal outpost, the very same outpost that would later become the infamous "Givat Ha-Ulpana" outpost. Givat Ha-Ulpana was built on private Palestinian land that had been stolen in various creative ways. What we're seeing is that in those key stages of the colonization process, when "facts on the ground" must be created quickly and quietly—the colonizers can always count on the JNF. And the JNF did not disappoint.

You would look in vain for these projects in the Palestinian Occupied Territories on the KKL/JNF website: The KKL has good reasons to not to mention them...

So what to do with the JNF?
First, all stolen lands must be expropriated immediately and given back to their legal owners. Second, the rest of its landed property should be transferred to all citizens of Israel regardless of nationality. Third, all relations between this corporation and the state should cease immediately. The state of Israel cannot pretend that it maintains equality for all citizens so long as it serves the interests of the JNF, an organization that works systematically to advance its discriminatory agenda—expanding Jewish colonization—at the expense of most Israeli citizens, both those who are not Jews as well as most Jews who live here peacefully and do not wish to be part of the colonization process.

No to Dispossession! Dismantle the JNF