National(ist) Parks

An Israeli national park with divided road cutting through, dotted with trees (Khalid M.)

Close your eyes and image your favorite park.

What do you see?

The lush, ancient redwoods of California towering over you? The awe-inspiring vastness of the Grand Canyon? Maybe you envision your favorite place to hike around the corner.

Whatever park you see, surely it is inspiringly beautiful piece of earth that adds community value, wildlife protection, and/or ...

Unfortunately, this is not the case for National Parks Israel creates around Jerusalem.

Used as a tactic to stifle development and economic growth, the Israeli government demolishes Palestinian homes and confiscates lands on the edges of neighborhoods and in-between Palestinian towns under the guise of conservation.

These lands are often barren and ugly; the only trees are a mono-species "planted" by foreign Christians and Jews. (there are organizations where you can donate money in order to plant a tree in Jerusalem).

Please consider boycotting these kinds of organizations. Do your research before blindly sending you dollars to anti-Palestinian organizations.

If you want to support a worthy organization who tackles these kinds of issues threatening Palestinian Jerusalemites, donate to Grassroots Jerusalem.