Uri Davis spouts his usual venom on ‘illegal JNF’

SUZANNE BELLING

Author of the book “Apartheid Israel”, Davis told an audience in Freedom Park in Johannesburg that the Jewish National Fund of South Africa funded the development of the South Africa Forest and must be declared an illegal organisation. He said the SA Forest’s recreational facilities were funded by WIZO and that the trees were planted to hide the villages, mainly one called Lubya, from where Palestinians were forcibly removed.

Chairman of the JNF Isla Feldman said in response to claims made by Davis that with the partition in 1947, JNF bought the land which brought about the creation of Israel, including the kibbutz movement and the Hebrew University.

“The villagers of Lubya used to shoot Jewish convoys and try to ambush them. Then Haganah, in retaliation, attacked the village and, in the process, the villagers left,” said Feldman.

The Arab village was originally built on top of a Jewish village. The villagers who left became part of the Palestinian refugees and were active participants in harbouring Arab militants. At the end of the war, Lubya was part of the State of Israel.

Feldman said the village was basically left uninhabited for 20 years and after the same period, trees were planted in the area, resulting in the forests thereby. There were plaques commemorating the villages which was the proof and debunked Davis’ attempts to erase the memory of the villages.

The forest incorporated a recreational area and a Christian faith site.

“Davis doesn’t want Israel to exist. His statements are outrageous and ridiculous,” Feldman said.

Describing himself as “a citizen of the apartheid state of Israel” and a “Palestinian of Jewish origin”, Davis is said to have renounced his Jewish faith in favour of Islam and is married to a Palestinian woman. But his religious affiliations are unclear.

Until 2009, he was an observer member of the Palestine National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, whereafter he became a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council. Fatah has maintained several militant groups since its establishment, including Force 17, Tanzim and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades which have been involved in the murder of many Israelis and Palestinians, despite Fatah officially renouncing terrorism in 1988.

His attendance at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001 and his anti-Israel declarations at the time, was a contributing factor leading to the walkout of Israeli and Jewish organisations and community members who were among those who dubbed the conference the “Racist Conference”.