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Canada Park is a recreational area north of Jerusalem that was founded by the Jewish National Fund on the lands of the former Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu and Bayt Nuba. The Park was founded after the 1967 war, which marked the beginning of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the State of Israel, and resulted in the destruction and de-population of the three villages. The former residents of the villages fled to refugee camps in the West Bank and Jordan, where most of them remain today. Established in 1973, Canada Park is now a picnic area and tourist destination.

History

The Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu and Bayt Nuba were once part of what was called the "Latrun salient," which was initially settled during the Canaanite period and was home to over 10,000 people at the time of the Six day war. The village of Imwas also held special to significance to Christians around the world, who believe that it was the site where Jesus Christ first appeared after the Crucifixion.

These villages were located in a strategic position that commands the road to Jerusalem and was the site of several key battles in the 1948 war. Arab irregulars enforcing the Jerusalem siege operated from the Latrun area villages. Several convoys attempting to bring food to besieged Jerusalem were attacked and destroyed and its members killed when passing through the Latrun area.

On June 6, 1967, the three villages were captured in the early hours of the morning by the Israeli Defense Forces. Amos Kenan, an Israeli Journalist who served as a reserve soldier in Bayt Nuba provides the following account:

"The unit commander told us that it had been decided to blow up three villages in our sector; they were Beit Nuba, Imwas and Yalu ... We were told to block the entrances of the villages and prevent inhabitants returning .... The order was to shoot over their heads and tell them not to enter the village... At noon the first bulldozer arrived and pulled down the first house at the edge of the village. Within ten minutes the house was turned into rubble. The olive trees and cypresses were all uprooted. After the destruction of three houses, the first refugee column arrived from the direction of Ramallah. We did not fire in the air. There were old people who could hardly walk, murmuring old women, mothers carrying babies, small children. The children wept and asked for water. They all carried white flags.

"We told them to go to Beit Sira. They told us they had been driven out. They had been wandering like this for four days, without food, some dying on the road. They asked to return to their village ... Some had a goat, a lamb, a donkey or a camel. A father ground wheat by hand to feed his four children ... The children cried. Some of our soldiers started crying too... We drove them out. They go on wandering like lost cattle. The weak die. Our unit was outraged. The refugees gnashed their teeth when they saw the bulldozers pull down the trees. None of us understood how Jews could behave like this. No one understood why these fellaheen shouldn't be allowed to take blankets and some food." (From Israel Imperial News, March 1968.)

Founding of Canada Park

In 1973, Bernard Bloomfield of Montreal - then President of the Jewish National Fund of Canada - spearheaded a campaign among the Canadian Jewish community to raise $15 million to establish Canada Park as a picnic area accessible to Israelis from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Jewish National Fund of Canada remains responsible for the upkeep of the park today through charitable donations.

International Law

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the forcible displacement of people and destruction of the property of those living under occupation are considered war crimes. International Law also affirms the right of displaced persons and refugees to return to their original homeland, which the 10,000 formers residents Imwas, Yalu and Bayt Nuba have been prohibited from doing. A 1986 report by the United Nations General Assembly stated the following:

"One particular illustration of this situation is the fate of the inhabitants of Imwas, Beit-Nuba and Yalu, reduced to the state of wandering refugees since their villages were razed by the occupying authorities in 1967. The Special Committee considers it a matter of deep concern that these villagers have persistently been denied the right to return to their land on which Canada Park has been built by the Jewish National Fund of Canada and where the Israeli authorities are reportedly planning to plant a forest instead of allowing the reconstruction of the destroyed villages."


References