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.
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in parks 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.
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