Yosef Weitz (Hebrew:יוסף ויץ; 1890–1972) was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of theJewish National Fund (JNF). From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for theYishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in the BritishMandate of Palestine.
In 1932, when Weitz joined the JNF, there were only 91,000 Jews in Palestine (about 10% of the population) who owned just 2% of the land. Weitz oversaw the program to purchase properties from absentee landlords and run the Palestiniantenant farmers off their land. However it soon became clear that the purchase of small lots of land would not get close to fulfilling theZionists' dream of creating aJewish-majority state in the region of Palestine and that it would be necessary to force the exodus of the Arab population. Due to Weitz's role in theexpulsion of Palestinian Arabs in 1948, he became known as the "Architect of Transfer".[1][2]
He also became known as the "Father of the Forests"[3] for his work inafforestation, which was done largely to cover up the destroyed Palestinian villages.[4]
Yosef Weitz was born inBoremel,Volhynia inthe Russian Empire in 1890. In 1908, heimmigrated to Palestine with his sister, Miriam, and found employment as a watchman and an agricultural laborer inRehovot. In 1911, he was one of the organizers of the Union of Agricultural Laborers in Eretz Yisrael.[5] Weitz married Ruhama and their eldest son, Ra'anan, was born in 1913. Two years later, in 1915, Yosef Weitz was appointed foreman of theSejera training farm (now Ilaniya) in theLower Galilee. Weitz helped to foundYavniel, one of the first pioneer colonies in the Galilee, and later, theBeit Hakerem neighborhood inJerusalem. His son Yehiam (Hebrew for "long live the nation"), born inYavne'el in October 1918, was killed in aPalmach operation known as theNight of the Bridges on June 16, 1946.Kibbutz Yehi'am was established in his memory.[6] Sharon Weitz, another of his sons, followed in his father's footsteps and later became director of the Forestry Department.[7]
In 20 December 1940, Weitz wrote in his diary:
In the middle of 1941, Weitz began to develop a plan for the practical realisation of Arab transfer. Between 22 June and 10 July, he wrote:
During the1948 Palestine war,~750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from the newly created Jewish state. Weitz firmly believed that Israel should not allow them to return, and he convinced Israeli leadersto raze the empty Palestinian homes and villages in order to prevent the return of therefugees.[1]
As head of theJNF Forestry Department, Weitz put his visions ofIsrael as a forested country into practice. He wanted to plant millions of trees not just to decorate the Israeli landscape, but also to cover up theemptied Palestinian villages that had been destroyed so they could never be rebuilt.[1]
On April 18, 1948, Weitz wrote about the list of villages he wanted to be ethnically cleansed first:
He was spurred on byDavid Ben-Gurion, who told Weitz he wanted a billion trees planted within a decade. In 1949, he proposed a division of labor between the Israeli government and the JNF. The government would engage in applied research in planting techniques, especially in arid areas, and the development of atimber industry. It would also establish plant nurseries. The JNF would improve indigenous forests, work in afforestation of hilly regions, stop the encroachment of sand dunes and plant windbreakers. Weitz saw plant nurseries and afforestation as a vital source of employment for the masses ofnew immigrants arriving in the early days of the state. He was guided by the belief that developing awork ethic was imperative for acculturation.[7]
In 1966,Yatir Forest in theNegev was planted at Weitz's urging. He "envisioned rolling back the desert with trees, creating a security zone for the people of Israel".[9] Named for the biblical town ofYatir, it is now Israel's largest planted forest.[10]
Weitz's forestry strategy emphasized the economic utility of forests and the importance of theAleppo pine as the hardiest of local species. As a result, Israel’s forests for its first twenty years were largelymonocultures and were later affected by naturalpests. Weitz frequently clashed with the nascentconservation movement which objected to the Jewish National Fund's approach to tree planting, such as pine tree plantations onMount Gilboa which threatened an endemic plant,Iris haynei (also known as Iris Gilboa).[11]
Weitz was an advocate ofpopulation transfer. As the1948 Palestine war unfolded, he confided to his diary in April that he had drawn up a list of Arab villages to becleansed to enable Jewish settlement, and had also drawn up a list of land disputes with Arabs that he thought should be resolved by military means.[12] According toNur Masalha[13] and Benny Morris[14] an unofficialTransfer Committee was established in May 1948 composed of Weitz,Danin andSasson. HistorianEfraim Karsh however, wrote that although Weitz spoke of establishing a transfer committee, Ben-Gurion rejected the idea, and no such committee was ever established.[15]
In his capacity as director of the Forestry Department, he initiated projects to destroy Arab property, ordering personnel to create obstacles for Arabs attempting to return to cultivate their fields, to destroy villages, and to render habitable other villages in order to enable Jewish settlement. He had discussed these activities withBen-Gurion on June 8, and according to his diary, gained the latter's approval.[16] On June 22, 1941 he wrote in his diary: "The land of Israel is not small at all, if only the Arabs were removed, and its frontiers enlarged a little, to the north up to theLitani, and to the east including theGolan Heights...with the Arabs transferred to northern Syria and Iraq...Today we have no other alternative...We will not live here with Arabs."[17]
With regard to the problem ofexpelled Palestinians endeavouring to return later in 1948, Weitz suggested to Ben-Gurion on September 26 that a policy of relentless harassment (hatrada) by every available means was necessary in order to quash any such return.[18]
TheMa'ale Yosef Regional Council andMoshavTalmei Yosef are named for Yosef Weitz.
Weitz’ great-granddaughter Michal Weits made adocumentary film about Yosef Weitz,Blue Box (Israel/Canada/Belgium 2021, 82 minutes).[19]
