Love of Land: Nature Protection, Nationalism, and the Struggle over the Establishment of New Communities in Israel

Abstract

Although there is burgeoning research on environmental activism, few studies have examined the interrelationship between nationalism and nature protection in detail. This article examines how groups manage the tension between national commitment and caring for the environment. It focuses on two opposing Israeli activist groups: a settler movement that aims to establish new communities in the fast‐dwindling Israeli open expanses and a “green” movement intent on preserving open spaces. Our observations, interviews, and textual analysis show that both groups believe themselves to be committed to the protection of nature, and that both groups see environmental responsibility as an integral aspect of their Zionist identity. However, the Israeli green movement sees abstaining from interventions in nature and adhering to sustainable development as Zionist because it preserves Israel for future generations. Conversely, the settler movement sees active intervention in nature—by building new communities, planting trees, and hiking—as the proper way to protect Israeli natural expanses and to maintain the livelihood of Israeli society. Our case study demonstrates that, although environmental movements often aspire to universalism, local movements also interlace environmentalism and nationalism in ways that generate multiple (and even contradictory) interpretations of the appropriate way to care for nature.

Predatory Fleas, Sterile Flies, and the Settlers

“…Alongside its human residents, the mid-Arava sustains a vast diversity of non-human inhabitants, permanent or temporary, migratory passersby, and some recent arrivals who have made the region their home (Shani 2018a). But the belief in the need to change the desert has led settlers to ignore everything that predated their arrival (Davis 2015;Dromi and Shani 2020). 8 Water, land, technology, government support, massive capital, and cheap foreign labor have been some of the most prominent components of the agricultural infrastructure introduced and sup-ported by settlement, but it, too, continues to change.…”

More‐than‐“bird”

“…A tension between technological development and love of nature has existed in Israeli society from the earliest days of the Zionist nation‐building project. On the one hand, love of nature is a hallmark of Jewish sentiments of return and connection to an ancestral homeland (De‐Shalit, 1995; Dromi & Shani, 2020). Outdoor education was a major element in the early days of the Jewish settlement and formation of the Israeli state (Bar‐Gal & Bar‐Gal, 2008; Sagy & Tal, 2015), and its influence continues to be evident in youth movements and formal and informal education, like Hugey Sayarut of the Jewish National Fund and the ministry of education's SHELACH (an acronym meaning Field‐Nation‐Society) programs.…”