Jerusalem wildfires fuelled partly by non-native trees introduced by Jewish National Fund

Wildfires that ignited across the hills around Jerusalem were fuelled partly by hundreds of millions of flammable non-native Aleppo trees planted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to obscure or erase evidence of destroyed Palestinian villages.

When Israel was established, paramilitary groups destroyed over half of the villages of Mandate Palestine and uprooted close to 800,000 Palestinians.

While the JNF markets itself as an ecological organisation, it is criticised for its eco-colonialism, which has continued to dispossess Palestinians through its "greening" initiatives.

The JNF credits itself with having planted over 250 million trees since its founding in 1901. A vast majority of the trees, however, are non-native conifers not suitable for the country’s environment.

JNF planted and created areas around Jerusalem, such as Castel National Park over the Palestinian village of al-Qastal, Hakdoshim Forest built over the Palestinian villages of Aqqur, Dayr 'Amr, Bayt Umm al-Mays, Khirbat al-'Umur and Kasla. Hakdoshim Forest was one of the areas affected by wildfires that broke out on Wednesday.