Canada Park (Hebrew:פארק קנדה,Arabic:حديقة كندا, alsoAyalon Park[1]) is anational park stretching over 7,000 dunams (7 km2) in theIsraeli-occupiedWest Bank.[2] The park is located north ofHighway 1 (Tel Aviv-Jerusalem), and is situated near theAyalon Valley, between theLatrun Interchange andSha'ar HaGai. It was established following theethnic cleansing of the ancientPalestinian villages ofYalu,Bayt Nuba andImwas byIsraeli troops during theSix-Day War.[3][4][5]
Today, the park is full with natural attractions, including man-made forests,Mediterranean woodlands home to many local flowers, and the remains of ancient orchards. The park also has a number of historical interest, including aHasmoneanJewish fort, burial caves andritual baths of theSecond Temple period and theBar Kokhba revolt, aCrusader fort, aRoman bathhouse that was turned into amaqam, the remnants of the three depopulatedPalestinian villages, and various military memorials. There are also recreation areas, springs, and panoramic several hilltop views.[6][7]
Canada Park is considered a popular tourist destination for Israelis,[8] drawing some 300,000 visitors annually.[9]
The park was heavily damaged in the2025 Israel–West Bank fires.[10]
Canada Park covers an area of 7,000 dunams. It is filled with wooded areas, walking trails, water features and archaeological sites. Trees in the park includeolive,carob,pomegranate,pine andalmond. The area is also home to a range of wildlife fromlizards andturtles to grayravens and bluejays.[11]
Historical ruins on the grounds of the park include aRomanbathhouse, aHasmoneanJewishcemetery, and a Crusaderfortress (Castellum Arnaldi).[12] TwoSecond Temple periodmikvehs, a type of Jewish ritual bath, were also discovered there.[9] At the foot of one of the hills that overlooks the city ofModi'in is a large reservoir built by the Jewish National Fund for irrigating local fields.[13]
In the middle of the park is a forest planted to commemorate over 300 American and Canadian Jews who died in Israel's wars or were victims of terror. An annual memorial ceremony is organized by theAssociation of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI). In 2011, the ceremony was attended by the US Ambassador to IsraelDaniel Shapiro.[6]
After capturing the area in 1967 during theSix-Day War, Israel took over the Palestinian villages in the area, which were then razed on the orders of Israeli generalYitzhak Rabin, with 7,000–10,000 inhabitants expelled[14][15][16] and 1,464 homes demolished.[17] Imwas, Yalo andBayt Nuba were demolished as part of strategic plans to widen theJerusalem corridor.[18]Dayr Ayyub, also on the grounds of the park, had beenpartly destroyed during the fighting in 1948 and never rebuilt.[19]
In 1972, Bernard Bloomfield ofMontreal, then President of JNF Canada, spearheaded a campaign among the Canadian Jewish community to raise $15 million ($80m in terms of 2010 values)[20] for the park's establishment. The road leading to the park is named forJohn Diefenbaker, the former Canadian prime minister, who opened it in 1975. The project was completed in 1984.[21]
The inhabitants were offered compensation but not allowed to return.[16] The lands of the 3 villages were confiscated and declared a closed area, and only declared 'public land' to be developed for a recreational park two years later in 1969.[14][22] The settlement ofMevo Horon was built on the lands of Bayt Nuba in 1970.[14] Signage in the park indicates that it falls under the Department of Archaeology, Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria being the Israeli terms for the West Bank.[23]
In 1976, Palestinian residents of Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba wrote to the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin asking for what they described as their "legitimate humanitarian right to return to the villages from which we were driven and expelled" in order to rebuild their houses without requesting compensation from Israel. They did not receive a reply. In 2007, the Israeli NGOZochrot wrote to Israel's minister of defense,Ehud Barak, on behalf of the residents to ask why they could not return to their homes. In 2008, the minister's office informed them that "The return of the village inhabitants [was] not allowed for security considerations".[24]
In 2013, thePalestinian National Authority's Negotiations Affairs Department launched a campaign to have the 50-km (30 mile) Latrun Valley, contiguous to the Green Line, restored to it as 'vital and integral part of theState of Palestine as defined by the 1967 border.[25]
According to formerIsrael parliamentarianUri Avnery, the creation of the park was tantamount to complicity inethnic cleansing, and Canadian involvement in its creation a "cover to a war crime".[20] According toMeron Benvenisti the function of such re-afforestation projects like that at Canada Park was to confiscate Arab land in the Palestinian territories Israel occupied after 1967.[26]
The JNF's reafforestation programme privileges pine over indigenous species, and, according toIlan Pappé, the choice of planting a forest based on fast-growing species was dictated by considerations of rapidly hindering a return of refugees to their land, while, as evergreens, quickly concealing the demolished village sites with year round leafage.[20]
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