A tree planting ceremony in a Johannesburg park intended as a “reassertion of the need for justice in Palestine” will go ahead on Thursday.
South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) said that permission for a tree-planting at the Weinberg Family Park in Savoy‚ featuring former minister of intelligence Ronnie Kasrils‚ was withdrawn on Monday and reinstated on Wednesday “with the proviso that no plaque is installed”.
“Hence‚ trees will also be planted‚ with the appropriate plaque and ceremony‚ at Constitution Hill‚” SAJFP’s Allan Horwitz said.
The events‚ he explained‚ were in protest at “our unwitting complicity in trying to deny the Nakba (Palestinian exodus)”.
The protest relates to the South Africa Forest in Galilee‚ “which was planted through donations to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and covers the Palestinian village of Lubya”.
Said Horwitz: “Many of us donated to the JNF as children‚ not knowing the organisation was using our monies to try cover evidence of Palestinian life. “The trees in the South Africa Forest‚ which we unwittingly paid for‚ are the reason for today’s symbolic tree planting in Johannesburg‚ South Africa‚ which is fittingly on Spring Day.
“Through this‚ we commit to working with representatives of Palestinian civil society and Lubyans‚ to relate our unwitting complicity in trying to deny the Nakba in Israel-Palestine.”
Weinberg Family Park‚ which is in a “predominantly Jewish area”‚ was chosen as it has “a strong history of anti-apartheid activism”‚ said Horwitz.
“This park was chosen both to honour their history and to raise awareness of the Nakba in this. Both the history and current effects of the Nakba are ongoing and by planting trees in this area we contribute to the reassertion of the need for justice in Palestine.”
Nakba refers to the 700,000 Palestinian Arabs who were displaced during the 1948 Palestine war.
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