JNF Launches Reclamation in Occupied Arab Areas, Details Other Projects

The Jewish National Fund has begun land reclamation projects for settlements in the occupied territory near Banyas and Kibbutz Golan in the Syrian heights, it was disclosed today by Yaacov Tzur, director of the JNF. At a press conference here, he also described land clearing projects in the mountainous regions of Israel, and the washing of salty soil in the Negev desert north of Eilat, all undertaken by his agency, which is the land reclamation arm of the World Zionist Organization.

Mr. Tzur said that the JNF employs up to 5,000 jobless Israelis daily in afforestation projects in various parts of Israel, and also supervises the employment of 1,500 Arabs in the occupied territories. The latter are working on projects started before the June war under the auspices of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, mainly in the Nablus and Gaza regions.

He reported that a half-million trees were planted this year. Among next year’s projects, he said. is the Ben-Gurion forest that will be planted around the immigrant town of Dimona, in Southern Israel, to mark the former Prime Minister’s birthday.

He said that land reclamation in the mountainous areas is the most difficult, but it must go on to provide arable land for the second generation of settlers. An average of 60,000 tons of rock must be removed from every acre of land. In the desert region near Eilat, the salt washing process will clear 1,000 dunams (250 acres) for each new settlement, but the process will take years.

Mr. Tzur said that, for its projects to be successful, the JNF will strengthen its fund-raising activities abroad to match the United Jewish Appeal’s emergency campaigns in countries where JNF conducts separate drives, as in the United States. He said that only a quarter of the JNF’s receipts come from the United States, the rest from Europe, South Africa and other countries.