«Jewish settlers invested in tree planting»
Netta Cohen on Zionist Attitudes towards Climate
The Jewish Museum’s collection includes a group of wooden objects from Ottoman and Mandate Palestine, including spice boxes and flower albums. These souvenirs testify to the early Zionists’ interest in tree planting and ecology. Museum director Naomi Lubrich corresponded with Netta Cohen, a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Christ Church College, about the Zionist afforestation projects she describes in her recent book New Under the Sun: Early Zionist Encounters with the Climate in Palestine.
Naomi Lubrich: Dear Netta, you study early Zionist attitudes toward climate. Why was tree planting important for Jews in Palestine?
Netta Cohen: Jewish settlers invested in tree planting for national, cultural, economic, and ecological reasons. Initially, in the early 20th century, their motivation was economic; they wanted to plant fruit trees for cultivation. However, by 1912, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) shifted to planting resilient, non-fruit-bearing trees, like pine and cypress, especially on rocky lands unsuitable for agriculture. This shift responded, among other things, to the Ottoman law, which declared uncultivated land as state property. Thus, planting trees helped expand the ‹Jewish frontier› in Palestine.
Another reason related to Biblical descriptions of the land in Judeo-Christian tradition. Many European Jews and Christians in Palestine believed the scriptures described ‹original› landscapes and wished to restore their assumed lush woods and ancient forests.
Finally, the Zionists aimed to ‹improve› the local climate. In the late 19th century, deserts and semi-arid regions were not always considered as natural ecosystems but rather deficient ecologies resulting from alleged local neglect. A common solution was to plant trees, which they hoped would provide shade, stop the encroachment of sand dunes, and prevent soil erosion.
NL: How did botanists and agricultural specialists decide what trees to plant?
NC: In the early 20th century, the flora in Palestine mostly consisted of maquis and garrigue, shrubs, and small oaks. However, neither the British nor the Zionists were particularly interested in or familiar with the ‹original› flora of the country. Instead, they introduced trees to Palestine that had not previously grown there. The Jewish settlers, educated in Europe, acclimatized several plants and animals familiar to them from Western countries. Alternatively, they consulted with other European settlers residing in warm regions, thus, acclimatizing plants from places like Tunesia, Australia, New Zealand, and California.
For example, Palestine’s first large forest was planted between 1895 and 1899 in Hadera by Rothschild’s development agency and the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association. This project was initially intended to drain swamps. The developers purchased 250,000 eucalyptus seeds from Algeria, where French settlers had established large eucalyptus forests. In the 1920s, eucalyptus trees, which had previously held a prominent position, were replaced by pine trees. Pines were resilient, they grew relatively quickly, and they created a distinctly European landscape.
NL: What was the significance of olive trees?
NC: Olives are among the most frequently mentioned fruits in the sacred texts of the three monotheistic religions, with 66 references (48 in the Hebrew Bible, twelve in the Christian Bible, and seven in the Quran). Palaeobotanical and archaeological research shows that olive oil has been a dietary staple in the eastern Mediterranean since late prehistoric times. In antiquity, olive oil was used for cooking, as an ointment, and as fuel for lamps. For centuries, it was a valuable commodity for regional trade. From the 16th century onwards, Palestinian villages often paid taxes to the Ottoman authorities in barrels of olive oil. An Arabic idiom, still used today, says, «A person who has oil will never be poor.» The Arabic word for oil is ‹zeit,› (from zeitoon, olive) which illustrates how deeply olive oil is embedded in Arab culture and cuisine. The abundance of olive oil in Palestine made it one of the country’s most exported goods starting in the late 18th century, particularly from Jabal Nablus and neighboring villages.
In Jewish tradition, olive oil has symbolized the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel for centuries. The holiday of Hanukkah, which glorifies light and honors oil, is celebrated around December, right after the olive harvest season, when annual oil production begins. However, throughout the centuries, the symbolic significance of olive oil in Judaism became somewhat detached from its agricultural reality. Despite its aspiration to renew agricultural activity in Palestine by also glorifying ancient biblical crops, the Zionist project did not significantly alter this reality. For most of the 20th century, Jewish-Israelis showed limited interest in olive tree cultivation and olive oil production and consumption. This began to change only in the late 1990s, aligning with new health and culinary trends.
NL: What do we know about early knowledge exchanges with local inhabitants regarding agriculture?
NC: During the first half of the 20th century, Jewish farmers and agricultural experts often disregarded local customs in favor of what they considered advanced Western agricultural science and technology. When they did study local farming methods, they often appropriated them, describing them as ancient or Biblical. For example, Arab and Bedouin farmers, known as fallahin, relied on dew for watering crops as a dry farming technique for centuries. Dew was particularly effective for cultivating watermelons and sorghum, which grow in summer. However, Jewish experts presented this technique as a revival of an ancient Biblical practice, in line with Zionist ideology. One of the foremost Jewish proponents of using dew in agriculture was Shimon Duvdevani, a Jewish biologist and teacher at the agricultural secondary school of Pardes Hanna. Between 1936 and 1943, Duvdevani established no fewer than 80 dew stations in Palestine. His scientific work on the subject garnered considerable attention among British experts throughout the Empire. An article about Duvdevani’s work, published in the British journal Weather in July 1947, widely disseminated the idea that the use of dew in agriculture was an ancient Jewish practice.
NL: Dear Netta, thank you very much for your insights!
verfasst am 23.09.2024
