Katika miongo miwili ya kwanza ya dola, Waisraeli walikuwa na wasiwasi mkubwa kuhusu kugunduliwa kwa ukweli kuhusu Nakba ya 1948, na kuhusu uwezekano wa kutisha, "wa kutisha kama ndoto mbaya," wa wakimbizi wa Kipalestina kurudi katika miji yao na vijiji vyao katika eneo ambalo sasa lilikuwa Israeli. Facing the Forests, mojawapo ya kazi kubwa za kwanza za mwandishi wa riwaya A. B. Yehushua, ilichapishwa mwaka 1963. Inaanza kwa kuelezea uharibifu wa kijiji cha Kipalestina mwaka 1948 na upandaji wa msitu wa JNF juu ya magofu yake.

In the first two decades of the state Israelis had a deep anxiety about the discovery of the truth about the 1948 Nakba and the ‘nightmarish’ prospect of Palestinian refugees returning to their towns and villages in what had become Israel. Facing the Forests, one of novelist A. B. Yehushua’s first major works, was published in 1963. It opens with the destruction of a Palestinian village in 1948 and the planting of a JNF forest on its ruins.

Riwaya hii inasimulia hadithi ya mwanafunzi Mwisraeli ambaye ana "kuhangaikia" historia ya Wakristo wa Ulaya walioshiriki Vita vya Msalaba. Mwanafunzi huyo, akitafuta mapumziko na upweke, anapata kazi ya mlinzi wa msitu. Anapofika kwenye nyumba ya ulinzi katika msitu wa JNF, anamkuta mwanamume Mwarabu ambaye ulimi wake ulikuwa umekatwa, pamoja na binti yake. Muda mfupi baada ya kuwasili kwake, mwanafunzi anaanza kuteseka na ndoto mbaya, na anakuwa akitarajia msiba wakati wote. Majira ya kiangazi yanapoendelea, mwanafunzi anaanza kumtamani binti wa mwanamume huyo. Mvutano kati yao wawili unazidi, na ghafla mwanamume huyo anawasha moto msituni, na msitu mzima unateketea. Alfajiri, mwanafunzi "anageuza macho yake kuelekea vilima vinavyotoa moshi wa moto, anakunja uso. Huko, kutoka kwenye moshi na ukungu, kijiji kilichoharibiwa kinajitokeza mbele ya macho yake; kikizaliwa upya, katika mistari yake ya msingi kama mchoro wa kidhahania, kama mambo yote yaliyopita na kuzikwa". Wakati mwanafunzi anashindwa kuona ukweli uliofichuliwa na utafiti wake kuhusu Vita vya Msalaba vya Walatini, moto unaufichua. Riwaya inaisha kwa uharibifu wa msitu na kujitokeza upya kwa kijiji cha Kiarabu (Yehoshua 1975: 385).

The novel recounts the story of an Israeli student who is ‘obsessed’ with the history of the Latin Crusaders. The student, looking for a break and solitude, finds a job as a forest ranger. When he arrives at the watch house in the JNF forest he finds an Arab man whose tongue had been cut out and the man’s daughter. Shortly after his arrival the student begins to suffer from nightmares and he is constantly anticipating a catastrophe. As the summer continues the student begins to desire the man’s daughter. The tension between the two escalates and suddenly the man sets fire to the forest and the whole forest burns down. At dawn the student ‘turns his gaze to the fire-smoking hills, frowns. There out of the smoke and haze, the ruined village appears before his eyes; born anew, in its basic outlines as an abstract drawing, as all things past and buried’. While the student fails to see the truths unearthed by his research on the Latin Crusades, the fire reveals it. The novel ends with the destruction of the forest and the re-emergence of the Arab village (Yehoshua 1975: 385).

Misitu ya JNF, kama Hifadhi ya Taifa ya Carmel, ikawa ishara ya uamsho wa kitaifa wa Kizayuni nchini Israeli na katika fasihi ya Kiebrania ya Israeli, ikiashiria mafanikio ya mradi wa Kizayuni wa Ulaya katika ‘kuota mizizi’ katika nchi ya kale na mandhari takatifu. Watoto mara nyingi walipewa majina ya miti, na fasihi ya watoto ya Kiebrania ilielezea miti michanga kama watoto (Zerubavel 1996). Majina kama Ilan (mti), Oren (mti wa msonobari), Tomer na Tamar (wa kiume na wa kike kwa mtende), Amir (kilele cha mti), au Elon au Allon (mti wa mwaloni) ni ya kawaida sana nchini Israeli. Misitu ya asili ya ‘Mwaloni wa Palestina’ (بلوط فلسطين) ilifunika maeneo mengi ya Palestina ya kihistoria, hasa Galilaya ya juu, Mlima Carmel, Mlima Tabor (kwa Kiarabu: Jabal al-Tur) na maeneo mengine ya vilima. Baadhi ya mila za Kiislamu za Kipalestina huko Galilaya zimewahi hata kuhusisha utakatifu na miti ya mwaloni ya kale. Mwaloni wa kale wa Palestina na majani yake umeonekana kuwa ishara ya nguvu na uvumilivu si tu Palestina, bali katika nchi nyingi duniani kote. Mila za kabla ya Ukristo za Ulaya na za Kikristo za zama za kati za kuheshimu miti ya mwaloni wa Palestina zinajulikana sana.

The JNF’s forests, such as the Carmel National Park, became an icon of Zionist national revival in Israel and in Israeli Hebrew literature, symbolising the success of the European Zionist project in ‘striking roots’ in the ancient homeland and sacred landscape. Children were often named after trees and children’s Hebrew literature described young trees as children (Zerubavel 1996). Names such as Ilan (tree), Oren (pine tree) Tomer and Tamar (male and female for palm tree), Amir (tree top), or Elon or Allon (oak tree) are very common in Israel. Natural woodlands of ‘Palestine Oak’ ( (بلوط فلسطين covered many areas of historic Palestine, especially in upper Galilee, Mount Carmel, Mount Tabor (Arabic: Jabal al-Tur) and other hilly regions. Some local Palestinian Muslim traditions in Galilee have even attributed holiness to ancient oak trees. The ancient Palestine Oak tree and its leaves have been seen as a symbol of strength and endurance not only in Palestine but in many countries across the world. European pre-Christian and medieval Christian traditions of veneration of Palestine Oak trees are well known.

Majani ya mwaloni pia yalikuwa, kwa mila, sehemu muhimu ya mavazi rasmi ya jeshi la Ujerumani, na yanaashiria vyeo katika jeshi la Marekani. Katika Palestina ya kale, mti huu ulikuwa na ibada yake yenyewe katika hadithi za kienyeji, zilizotokana na mila za kidini za eneo hilo; unahusishwa na uhai, na inadhaniwa kuwa umekua tangu mwanzo wa dunia (Niesiolowski-Spano 2011: 132–137).

The leaves of the oak were also traditionally an important part of German army regalia and symbolise ranks in the US army. In ancient Palestine, this tree had its own cult in local mythology, derived from local religious traditions; it is associated with life and is supposed to have grown since the beginning of the world (Niesiolowski-Spano 2011: 132–137).

Lakini ibada ya misitu ya JNF (ya mtindo wa Ulaya) nchini Israeli pia imekuwa kitovu cha kumbukumbu ya pamoja ya kidunia ya Kizayuni iliyobuniwa. Mwanahistoria na mwandishi wa habari wa Israeli Amos Elon, aliyezaliwa Vienna kwa jina la Amos Sternbach na kuhamia Palestina mwaka 1933, alibadilisha jina lake na kuwa Amos Oak. Kwa namna kama hiyo, Jenerali Yigal Allon, kamanda wa Palmah mwaka 1948, alizaliwa kwa jina la Yigal Paicovitch na kubadilisha jina lake kuwa Allon, linalosikika kwa Kiebrania (mti wa mwaloni). Kama tulivyoona hapo juu, mila hii ya 'misitu ya kale' na ibada ya miti ilitokana na mawazo ya Ulaya ya Kati ya uzalendo wa kimapenzi. Mwaka 2004 Amos Elon alihamia Italia, akitaja kukatishwa tamaa na mwenendo wa mambo nchini Israeli tangu mwaka 1967. Katika kitabu chake The Israelis:

But the worship of the JNF (European-style) forests in Israel has also become central to an invented Zionist secular collective memory. Israeli historian and journalist Amos Elon, who was born in Vienna as Amos Sternbach and immigrated to Palestine in 1933, changed his name to Amos Oak. In similar vein, General Yigal Allon, commander of the Palmah in 1948, was born Yigal Paicovitch and changed his name to the Hebrewsounding Allon (oak tree). As we have seen above, this tradition of the ‘ancient woods’ and wood worship was derived from central European notions of romantic nationalism. In 2004 Amos Elon moved to Italy, citing disillusionment with developments in Israel since 1967. In The Israelis:

Founders and Sons, Elon anaandika: ‘[F]ew things are as evocatively symbolic of the Zionist dream and rationale as a “Jewish National Fund Forest”’ (Elon 1983: 200). Misitu ya Israel ya mtindo wa Ulaya na sera zake za upandaji miti mpya zinapata uungwaji mkono wa Magharibi. Kupanda msitu wa mtindo wa Ulaya katika ‘udongo mtakatifu’ na ‘mandhari takatifu’ kunathibitisha thamani ya kimaadili isiyopingika ya mradi wa Israel (na kwa kuongezea, wa Magharibi) Mashariki. Upandaji miti pia unahusishwa, kimaada na kiishara, na Maangamizi ya Wayahudi barani Ulaya, na maelfu ya miti imepandwa kwa kumbukumbu ya jamii zilizopotea na waathiriwa binafsi (Elon 1983: 200). Kwa Wapalestina, hata hivyo, ni vichache sana vinavyoonyesha vizuri zaidi nafasi mashuhuri ya JNF tangu Nakba (Jamjoum 2010).

Founders and Sons, Elon writes: ‘[F]ew things are as evocatively symbolic of the Zionist dream and rationale as a “Jewish National Fund Forest”’ (Elon 1983: 200). Israel’s European-style forests and reforestation policies enjoy Western support. Planting a European-style forest in the ‘sacred soil’ and ‘sacred landscape’ confirms the undeniable ethical value of Israel’s (and by extension the West’s) project in the East. Afforestation is also linked, materially and symbolically, to the European Holocaust, and thousands of trees have been planted in memory of the lost communities and individual victims (Elon 1983: 200). For Palestinians, however, few things better encapsulate the notorious role of the JNF since the Nakba (Jamjoum 2010).