Guardians of nature in Israel

 

The touring exhibition “The story of a green Israel” traces the journey of the country’s biggest environmental organisation.

 

As it travels through Germany (Mannheim in October, Norderstedt in November) the exhibition’s large-format panels use text and images to explain the more than 100-year history of Israel’s largest environmental organisation, the Jewish National Fund – Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF-KKL literally: “Eternal fund for Israel”). The story begins with the founding of the organisation, the original aim of which was to purchase land in what was then Ottoman Palestine and to settle patches of desert, rocky landscapes and parched land. By the time the State of Israel was founded in 1948 the Fund had purchased around 100,000 hectares of land, set up 230 settlements and planted five million trees.

 

Today the JNF-KKL considers itself a bridge between Germany and Israel, and is involved in numerous environmental projects. These are another theme of the exhibition, which also introduces the current projects based on the areas of “green” (forestation and parks), “blue” (water projects) and “brown” (land development).

    

Up to 5 October at Mannheim Town Hall.

From 3 November to 16 November at Norderstedt Town Hall.