Established in 1901 to buy and develop land in
Palestine for Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish homeland. After its first 50 years of purchasing land in Palestine, the Jewish National Fund )(JNF) spent the following 50 years developing the land (including the land of depopulated and destroyed
Palestinian villages) by planting over 220 million trees, building neighborhood infrastructure, and settling Jewish immigrants. Critics have said that many JNF forests were planted with the intention of covering up/hiding destroyed Palestinian villages. The JNF is currently focusing its efforts on developing the Negev Desert (which is 55% of
Israel's land mass and includes the majority of Israel's
Bedouin citizens) for increased Jewish settlement and economic development. JNF's forestation attempts have led to the destruction of the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib 70 times. See "
Jewish National Fund resumes forestation project in al-Arakib," Mairav Zonszein, +972mag, May 7, 2012.