John
Howard's Dubious Jewish National Fund Honor
By Sonja Karkar
24 May, 2007
The
Electronic Intifada
There is something worrying about
a prime minister of a liberal, democratic country who imposes values
on his country's citizens and those who wish to become citizens, yet
does not adhere to those values when he regards it politically expedient
to ignore them. This is precisely what Prime Minister John Howard has
done in accepting the "honour" of having a forest named after
him in Israel's Negev Desert and also the Jerusalem Prize for his support
of Israel and its "values". And John Howard is in good company:
Sir Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke -- both former Australian prime ministers
-- also have forests in Israel named after them, as well as a former
governor-general, Sir Zelman Cowen.
The naming of the John Howard
forest was arranged by a quasi-private land agency, the Jewish National
Fund (JNF) which deliberately discriminates against non-Jews in its
allocation of long-lease agreements. This arrangement services Israel's
apartheid policies aimed at bringing about the Judaisation of all of
the land originally known as historic Palestine. The Israeli government
relies on the JNF and international Zionist organizations to bring in
Jews from abroad to settle on land forcibly taken from the non-Jewish
inhabitants -- a practice which is discriminatory and illegal. Already
the JNF holds 13 per cent of the land and now is currently advertising
its "Blueprint Negev" as "A Miracle in the Desert".
Only Jews will have access to the new development in keeping with the
JNF's charter, which is focused on looking after Jews globally.
The Negev Desert was and
is the home of the indigenous Bedouin Arabs who are now citizens of
present-day Israel. Some 80,000 have been living in 45 unrecognised
villages in the southern Negev Desert and although they have a right
to vote in Israel's national elections and have a duty to pay taxes
if they work, they have been calculatingly ignored when the Israeli
government approves of planning projects for new Jewish communities.
Their lands have been systematically confiscated and thousands of them
have been forced to live in poor and densely populated shanty towns
that is anathema to their traditional life on the land. These shanty
towns are totally neglected by the Israeli government and the Bedouins
have no access to even basic infrastructure like water, electricity
and sewage. There are no roads or medical and welfare services and no
municipal authority to administer services. The Bedouins, therefore,
have no access to any authority that might issue permits for building
and when out of necessity they do build, they live in constant fear
of having their homes destroyed.
The similarity of conditions
between the Bedouin Arabs and black South Africans during the Apartheid
era is obvious. Like the white South Africans, Jewish Israelis seek
to preserve their privileged position in Israel at all costs, tragically
to the detriment of the non-Jewish citizens. All Israel's policies,
therefore, are geared to ensure the exclusivity and security of the
Jewish state. Thus, mass expulsions followed by home demolitions and
razing of villages is a familiar story in Israel just as forced removal
was the modus operandi in South Africa. Under Israel's former Prime
Minister Sharon, a five-year plan was approved by the Israeli cabinet,
to force the Bedouins living in the unrecognised villages to leave.
There was no consultation, just a gradual increase in house demolitions,
the spraying of herbicide on crops to stop land cultivation and the
filing of eviction suits. Places were renamed and Jewish towns, villages
and cooperatives were built in place of the Bedouin villages. The Bedouins,
who once owned 94 per cent of the total land, have had their land declared
state property. They now own less than three per cent, and those who
refuse to leave their unrecognised villages, are called "squatters".
The JNF -- which has marketed
itself in the last decade as a premier Zionist environmental organization
-- plans to settle half a million Israelis in the Negev in 25 low density
housing communities over ten years. But, what the JNF calls the last
great natural reserve of Israel, has been the subject of legal proceedings
by Bedouin Arabs wanting to reclaim their land, and John Howard's forest
sits right in the middle of this disputed land. It would have been far
more prudent for our prime minister to decline these honours than associate
himself with a state that practices racial discrimination and human
rights abuses against its own non-Jewish citizens. After all, Howard
was at great pains to stop the Australian cricket team from playing
in Zimbabwe as a protest against Robert Mugabe's "grubby"
regime. Equally and clearly, the JNF's acts on behalf of Israel, do
not measure up to our Australian values of a fair go, tolerance and
inclusion. The prime minister ought to bring his values into line with
the rest of Australia, instead of associating himself so unreservedly
with Israel.
Sonja Karkar
is the founder and president of Women
for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia.
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