“The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust is a time to mourn those who disappeared and to reflect upon the choice of the individuals and governments that allowed this genocide to unfold. It is also a call for vigilance and for action, to address the root causes of hatred and prevent future atrocities from happening.” — Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, January 27, 2021
On January 27, 2021, the day UNESCO led the world in commemorating The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Israeli government’s military forces, better known as the Israel Defense Forces (dubbed by the Israeli Government as “the most moral army in the world”), oversaw and orchestrated the obliteration of over ten thousand (10,000) trees in Occupied Palestine.
On January 28, 2021, Middle East Monitor reported that on January 27, 2021 “The Israeli army yesterday destroyed a natural reserve and uprooted at least 10,000 trees in a military campaign in the northern West Bank in a move that Palestinians termed a ‘crime.’” Palestinian official Moataz Bisharat, “who is responsible for monitoring Israeli settlement activity in the Jordan Valley, told Anadolu Agency that the occupation army [Israeli army] pushed military vehicles and dozens of soldiers into the Ainun area in Tubas city in the morning and destroyed a nature reserve built on an area of about 400 dunums (98 acres).”
Bisharat further stated that this nature sanctuary planted some eight years back, was a supervised agricultural Greening of Palestine project overseen by the Palestinian Ministry of agriculture. Included in this list of the unconscionably demolished biodiverse forest, Bisharat lamented the destruction of some 350 olive trees. This nature preserve, he especially bemoaned, “is not more than 300 meters away from residential areas and it served as an ‘outlet’ for residents.”
In God’s name, what reason/explanation/excuse did the Israeli government and its Most Moral Army in the World have to justify destroying a forested 98 acre natural preserve in which those living under a brutal Nazi-like occupation find respite, solace and refuge from the daily brutalities they have to endure?
