A matter of roots

Here's a question for a game of 'Trivial Pursuit': "What country gives free Christmas trees to Christians?" Answer: "The Jewish State." To be precise, it isn't the State of Israel that distributes Christmas trees every year, but Keren Kayemet Leyisrael (KKL) or the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the non-governmental body in charge of the country's forests. Every November KKL-JNF thins out its forests and gives away suitable pine trees to all corners: the local and expatriate Christian communities, the diplomatic corps and foreign press.

At a modest ceremony last month in the President's Forest near Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, a group of Dutch Christians prayed, sang and planted pine saplings. This particular group, some 30 members of the worldwide organization Christians for Israel, based in the Netherlands, had come on a solidarity mission to Israel in April.

They weren't the only ones planting trees that day. Israelis don't know it, but at a time when there are virtually no tourists on the streets in Israel, you can find them in the forests. They are mostly Christian groups from abroad who have asked to plant trees in one of the country's many forests.

"Despite the fact that the situation is dreadful, groups - especially Christian groups - continue to come to our forest planting centers," marvels Yossi Sapir, head of the KKL/JNF Plant a Tree with Your Own Hands Department. In 'normal' periods, says Sapir, there are groups planting trees every hour of every day in each of the three planting centers.

"Nowadays there's usually only one group coming daily to each center. These people identify with Israel and with the struggle Israel is going through," he says. Nevertheless, considering the general situation, that an impressive number.

"For us, planting trees is a very physical way to build the land, to connect," explains group spokesman Jan Peter van der Velden, from Rotterdam. "This concept is working on our imagination in Holland. It's not just saying it, it's doing something, leaving something of yourself behind."

Group leader Rev. Gerard Duijker says he brings groups representing all Protestant churches in the Netherlands twice a year. "We believe in the prophecy of the Bible, which says this is the land of the Jews and the land of God, and the Jews are our older brothers. This is a witness to our faith," states Duijker, editor of the Prophetic Perspective Magazine (Profetisch Perspectief).

Members of Duijker's group were not typical pilgrims. They volunteered to help out in various projects helping new immigrants, visited the wounded victims of suicide bombings, and visited homes the elderly and the Kami industrial zone on the border with the Gaza Strip.

When they first arrived in the country they had gone directly from the airport to the Israeli army checkpoint at the entrance to Bethlehem, the site of a six-week standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen and civilians who had holed up in the Church of the Nativity. The siege ended on May 10, but when the Dutch group arrived it was still going on.

According to van der Velden the group demonstrated at the checkpoint to express its revulsion at using the church and Christianity for political ends. He said the group's message for the Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity had been to stop using the holy places as hiding places.

In addition to all their other activities here, the group asked the KKL-JNF to arrange a tree-planting ceremony. Like many Christian individuals and groups, Christians for Israel in the Netherlands also contributes financially to the KKL-JNF.

Few Israelis are aware of the strong Christian connection to the KKL-JNF, Israel's largest non-governmental organization that for 100 years has been solely responsible for reclaiming, afforesting and developing rural lands in Israel. It has made it the only country in the world to have more trees growing at the beginning of 21st century than at the beginning of the 20th.

"The Christian connection comes from their faith," explains Ina Greenwald, KKI's European Department director. "In the case of evangelical Christians, it's the belief that only with the return of the Jews to their land will the messiah return. The KKL offers a material connection, to have roots in the Holy land and to leave a trace, which also means caring for the environment for the next generation. It's not just 'give the money and be done with it', it's having an ongoing link with the land," adds Greenwald.

At the request of Christian groups in Europe, KKL-JNF has published several booklets on trees that appear in the Old Testament, including the biblical citations. KKL's annual income from abroad is about $40 million annually, of which an estimated 10 to 15 percent comes from Christian contributors worldwide.

Most of the contributions in Europe come from the Scandinavian countries and Germany; very few non-Jews in France and Britain give money to KKL. In North America, too, a significant proportion of contributions come from Christian groups, churches and individuals.

"I regard this as very positive, not just because of the money, but because of the connection with the state of Israel that this represents," says Yehiel Leket, chairman of the board of directors of the KKL-JNF. "Because we have many forests named for specific countries, heads of state come to Israel on official visits and plant trees in their country's forest. This is an expression of friendship that is very important."

The individual human connection is another important element, he points out. "When someone asks to buy a tree to be planted in Israel, it costs us more to do this than the money we get for the tree. But what we have in mind in providing this is the relationship with Israel. And it's a kind of investment for the future. If a person is excited about this, perhaps he or she will come to Israel some day." This, he says, is as true for Christians as it is for Jews.

In the US the Jewish National Fund (as it is known in the US) is the most popular of all Israel-related charities, with a donor list of more than 750,000. "Because we present ourselves as 'the national custodians of the Land,' this works very well with [Christian] Holy Land concepts," explains Zevik Kahane, the JNFs representative in the US. Speaking from New York Kahane said that it would be difficult to give a breakdown of the contributions to specify who gives what, but explained "the Christian community in America is not as saturated as the Jewish community with fund-raising for Israel. The JNF is a very useful platform for expressing support or linking up with Israel on a nonpolitical basis. The very notion that an individual or church has a grove of trees in their name, that there is a physical link out there, is a very attractive opportunity. So there is an ongoing stream of church groups going to Israel who during their stay will plant trees through the KKL," he stated. And this is true, he says, even in today's difficult atmosphere.

During the pope's pilgrimage in March 2000, the KKL-JNF established the "Pilgrimage Forest" at Amnun Bay at the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. The planting ceremony at the site, chosen for its proximity to the Mount of Beatitudes, was attended by senior representatives of the Vatican including cardinals, archbishops and bishops. This forest has been an ongoing project, but, admits Leket, has generated less interest among Catholics than the organization had hoped.

While most Christians who are involved with the KKL-JNF in Europe are Protestants, in North America, says Kahane, it's an equal number of Protestants and Catholics. "There are Roman Catholic archbishops and cardinals who are honored by the JNF at testimonial events and have forests in their name in Israel, because their communities have supported the JNF, for example, the late Cardinal O'Connor of New York." Although most contributors are interested in the KKL-JNFs afforestation projects, many have become involved in its many non-forestry projects, such as recreation areas, land reclamation and numerous water projects, including reservoirs, recycling units and fishponds.

As the leading "greens' organization, KKLJNF is also involved in protecting the quality of environment and ecology in Israel.

As a result of the severe water shortage in the country, at the beginning of the 1990s KKL-JNF stepped up its construction of reservoirs and dams all over the country. Jews and Arabs alike, explains KKI's Ina Greenwald, are "drinking from the same glass. We have to take care of our aquifers and our environment, otherwise we are finished. It's hard for Europeans to understand a lack of water, but when we explain how essential this is for the peace of the region, they are eager to help."

Having planted saplings, received their KKL-JNF pins and certificates, prayed and been photographed with their hands in the soil, the Dutch Christians for Israel group gets back on the bus and leaves the forest. Did they not consider this a courageous act, considering the situation and how it is being portrayed in the media?

"You can be a hero through ignorance," jokes Jan Peter van der Velden, then adds, "It's not a matter of physical courage; we don't sense it that way. When I speak to colleagues at work, who are not [believing] Christians, first they say, 'are you losing your mind?' But when I explain the situation, they do understand. It's a matter of explaining it properly. This is the perfect time to show support. Israelis go on living, so why shouldn't we keep coming?"