JERUSALEM - JULY 19: Israel's controversial West Bank barrier weaves its way between the Palestinian refugee camp of Shuafat (front) and the Jewish neighbourhood of Pisgat Zeev July 19, 2009 in East Jerusalem, the part of the city Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel's sovereignty over the city was not a matter up for discussion after the U.S. State Department told the Israeli envoy to Washington that it must halt a right-wing Israeli construction project at the Shepherd Hotel in the East Jerusalem Arab suburb of Sheikh Jarrah. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)
More than half of Israel’s land is controlled by the Jewish National Fund or Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF), an organisation widely known for its tree planting, reforestation and environmental conservation efforts. But beneath this green facade lies a much more contentious reality: the KKL-JNF has played a crucial role in the dispossession of Palestinian land and the expansion of Israel’s colonial settler project.
The KKL-JNF acquires land in Palestine on behalf of the Jewish people. As of 2021, the organisation controls 13% of Israel’s land and reported a gross revenue of NIS 1.2 billion (about R5.78 billion). With 50 fundraising offices worldwide, the KKL-JNF cultivates an image of environmental stewardship and grassroots support in the Jewish community. Yet, its activities include purchasing land in Palestine and implementing so-called environmental projects that support illegal settlements, contributing to the ongoing displacement of Palestinian communities both within and beyond the Green Line.
This strategy of land acquisition is not new. It dates back to 1948 when Israel transferred stolen Palestinian land to the KKL-JNF, effectively bypassing the need to return the land under United Nations resolutions. Land has remained central to Israel’s power dynamics ever since.
In 1968, prime minister Levi Eshkol directed the KKL-JNF to purchase land in the West Bank through its subsidiary, Himanuta, specifically tasked with acquiring land in the occupied territories. By the mid-1980s, these land grabs intensified, bolstered by right-wing settler groups such as Elad and Ateret Cohanim. Although the KKL-JNF is officially a public-benefit company, Himanuta operates as a private entity, enabling the organisation to further its land-purchasing agenda with fewer restrictions.
In 2014, journalist Raviv Drucker exposed an internal KKL-JNF document showing the organisation’s extensive involvement in West Bank settlements, including building parks and purchasing land to expand these illegal communities.
Some of the most problematic actions by the KKL-JNF include:
- Decades-long legal battle to evict the Sumarin family from their home, by exploiting the Absentee Property Law. In partnership with the settler organisation Elad, which openly seeks Jewish ownership of Palestinian properties, the KKL-JNF has evicted or attempted to evict numerous Palestinian families.
- In the village of Susya in the South Hebron Hills, the KKL-JNF played a key role in displacing Palestinian residents. The organisation even used Susya in a promotional booklet, advertising it as an “attractive heritage site” exclusively for Israeli citizens.
- The KKL-JNF also transferred stolen land to the Efrat regional council, leading to the construction of 800 houses in the E2 area, known as Nahla, which bisects the West Bank and hinders the growth of Bethlehem.
The KKL-JNF’s influence is not confined to the West Bank. Inside the Green Line, the organisation has planted forests over Bedouin villages like Al Araqib, where residents have resisted more than 200 demolition attempts by the Israeli army. Similarly, the KKL-JNF demolished the village of Umm Al-Hiran to replace it with a Jewish town.
In the Galilee, the KKL-JNF strategically outbids Arabs for land allocated for the development of Palestinian towns, ensuring that this land remains under Jewish ownership.
Moreover, the KKL-JNF has deliberately undervalued stolen land in its financial statements, with the true value estimated to be 67 times higher than reported, research by Maya Rosen and Daniel Roth has found. This practice avoids government oversight and taxation.
As Avraham Duvdevani, a former KKL-JNF chair, once remarked: “As long as the state of Israel exists, they will need KKL-JNF, which does things that the state does not do for one reason or another.”
Despite its close ties with the state and quasi-governmental status, the KKL-JNF carries out activities the state cannot easily justify, operating under the guise of being a private entity. The organisation wields significant power, holding six out of 14 seats on the Israel Land Authority Council, plays a key role in land distribution, development and planning, all with minimal oversight.
The KKL-JNF’s reach extends beyond Israel. In South Africa, the KKL-JNF operates branches in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, proudly claiming to be a major funder of the Zionist movement in the country. The organisation has funded forests, roads and dams in Israel and even established a monument in the Lavi Forest for South African Israel Defence Forces soldiers (IDF) who participated in past and ongoing conflicts. This support directly violates South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998, which prohibits people from providing military assistance without authorisation from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee. To date, no South African IDF soldiers have received such authorisation, rendering their actions illegal and subject to prosecution.
In an attempt to legitimise its presence, the South African KKL-JNF launched initiatives such as the JNF Walter Sisulu Environmental Centre in Mamelodi and the Mandela Park Peace Garden. These efforts starkly contrast with the principles of freedom, justice and dignity championed by Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.
The KKL-JNF operates globally, using tax-free donations to greenwash past crimes and facilitate land theft. Today, the KKL-JNF collaborates with Israel to use forestation as a means of evicting Palestinians from their land in the Al-Naqab desert, replacing them with Jewish settlers under the guise of making the desert bloom. This serves as a reminder that seemingly innocent actions such as tree planting can be co-opted by colonial entities like Israel to conceal far more sinister agendas — an ongoing cover-up that has persisted for 76 years and counting.
Sozarn Barday is an attorney based in Cape Town with an interest in human rights.