The Work of the Jewish National Fund

November 12, 2008

by Daniel E. Levenson

I have to admit that until recently, when I thought of the Jewish National Fund, I thought mainly of trees. I did have a vague sense that they might work on other issues as well, but if anyone had asked me what the JNF did, my first answer would certainly have involved planting trees in Israel. In fact, the JNF does that and a whole lot more, and at a recent event I had a chance to learn a little about some other JNF initiatives as well as to hear former United States ambassador to Israel, and current director of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, Martin Indyk, discuss his views on the future of the Middle East peace process under the incoming Obama administration.

While there have been some who have speculated that the election of Barack Obama would not be good for Israel, Ambassador Indyk certainly seemed optimistic that under an Obama administration we will see some real movement on the peace process. He also assured the audience that Obama was a friend to the Jewish state and that the junior senator from Illinois, and soon to be president of the United States, understood the level of fear and the significance of the threat that Israelis live with every day. In response to a question about whether or not President-elect Obama will have time to deal with the Middle East issues while facing serious economic problems at home, Ambassador Indyk said that while the economy would no doubt be a major focus of the new administration, the situation in the Middle East is also something that will have to be dealt with. A key figure in Middle East policy while serving during the Clinton administration, Ambassador Indyk noted a lack of action on the part of the Bush administration when it came to working toward a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as reluctance to play a key role in peace talks between Israel and Syria, leaving room for Turkey to instead fill the void and act as a broker between the two neighbors.  Indyk, who served as the first Jewish United States Ambassador to Israel under President Clinton, also commented on the work of JNF in Israel, mentioning new community development efforts underway in the Negev and the work of JNF on water resource issues.

While the original work of the Jewish National Fund may have been to help make the desert bloom through arboriculture, the legacy of the organization may very well end up standing equally upon the humanitarian and community development work that it is doing in Israel. One outstanding example of the group’s efforts in Israel is their investment in infrastructure and human capital through Blueprint Negev, a comprehensive program designed to address a variety of water management, community development, security and general infrastructure needs in the Negev.

While it is understandable that the state of Israel is often preoccupied with security matters, I do think that more attention needs to be paid to the country’s environmental problems.  Considering the impressive technological advances which have been made or developed in Israel, I see no reason why the Jewish state could not become a model of environmental stewardship and green technology in the region and beyond. I have written on prior occasions that one of the avenues through which I think Israel might find lasting, normalized, peaceful relationships, with its neighbors could be by finding common ground on ecological matters.  I have also given much thought to how Diaspora communities can make a meaningful contribution to peace in the Middle East and I would suggest that supporting the work of organizations like the JNF, which is clearly dedicated to making positive contributions to the land and people of Israel, is one of the best ways to do this.

In many cases these environmental initiatives also have potential benefits for Israel’s neighbors. The Red Sea Coral Regional Nursery, which the JNF is helping to fund, has the potential to benefit Egypt and Jordan, as well as Israel. As was noted in a memorandum of understanding between the JNF and the North American Friends of Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, “Restoration of the reef by corals, farmed in the regional nursery, will not only help the reefs and the economy of the cities bordering the Gulf, but also enhance peace through collaborative reef gardening.”

It is projects like this one that give me hope for the region. In Ambassador Indyk’s remarks last week there seemed to be an implicit assumption that one of the reasons President-elect Obama will be a positive influence on the peace process is that he understands the interconnected nature of the world in which we live. It seems only fitting, then, that Ambassador Indyk offered his remarks on the future of the Middle East with Obama in the White House, to an audience of people who are so clearly committed to helping rebuild and restore the State of Israel -  one tree,  one reservoir, one coral reef, at a time.