There are those who ask why Israel should care for the country’s northern forests while fighting an existential war.
As Israel defends herself on all fronts, swathes of the Upper Galilee and Golan Heights have been engulfed in flames as a result of attacks from Hezbollah within Lebanon. These fires are also part of the existential war because they are life-threatening and the trees are deeply symbolic of all that is Judaism and Israel.
On Oct. 22, 2023, following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities, over 200,000 people became internally displaced as they were officially evacuated from towns and villages in both southern and northern Israel. When Hezbollah attacks began on Oct. 8, 60,000 people were evacuated from the north. Today, 30,000 of them from over 30 communities remain displaced.
As the attacks on the north escalated, so did the number of fires and areas affected. On June 13, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority reported on fires that burned over 14,830 acres of land since January. More than half of the area burned was in nature reserves and national parks. Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which has an intrinsic role in Israel’s forestry, stated that, on average, about 300 acres are burned annually in natural forest fires. But the multiple fires caused by hundreds of rockets landing across the countryside produce soaring temperatures reported at 600–700 degrees Celsius with no limiting factors, instead of the average 200 degrees Celsius of natural fires.
An indication of the rapidly changing circumstances of the forest fires is that on June 3, Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service reported that all the fires in northern Israel had been brought under control. By July 7, however, newspapers were issuing updates on endless rocket barrages and drone swarms aimed specifically at incinerating the nature reserves, already dry from the intense summer heat.
Several nature reserves that were cultivated for over a hundred years, as well as centuries-old natural coppice, have been almost totally destroyed. Biriya Forest, near the town of Safed in the Upper Galilee, is repeatedly targeted and has suffered considerable damage. On the Golan Heights, 9,500 acres have been burned by rocket attacks.
The impact of this forces a silence on once thriving towns, villages, kibbutzim and moshavim. The human trauma is shadowed by the ecological shock the fires have caused the flora and fauna of the region. The size of the fires has affected the viability and economic future of the forests. It takes decades to plant and develop forests as they mature and become established and resilient. Forest regeneration can take longer. Even without the fires caused by the different wars Israel has endured, the forests are often subject to damage, accidental fires and arson.
Natural fires frequently occur in Israel and some of them are devastating. In 2010, a fire in the Carmel Forest near Haifa caused the deaths of 44 people and over 17,000 had to be evacuated. The fire burned 6,177 acres. The destruction of more than 7,400 acres of forests in 2016 resulted in the injury of 133 people as the fires—partly caused by arsonists—burned continuously for over five days, mainly in northern Israel. Some of these fires were so large and intense that at least 2,000 firefighters battled round the clock and firefighters from Cyprus flew in to help.
Forests can tolerate natural fires and, after such fires dwindle, foresters get to work clearing, pruning, planting and replanting. Forests require constant care.
Staff shortages and inadequate financial resources are putting a strain on forestry facilities. Throughout the war, KKL-JNF has been tirelessly engaged in firefighting in the northern forests. One of the earlier visitors to Israel after the outbreak of the war was Samuel Hayek, chairman of the JNF in the U.K., who immediately pledged support for rebuilding the besieged communities near the Gaza Strip. JNF-UK is now involved in assisting evacuated northern communities.
Forests have inherent characteristics and multiple usages. While they are susceptible to fires, they can also act as barriers to them. In the process of photosynthesizing carbon dioxide, forests are a major source of the world’s supply of oxygen. They are hubs of both naturally occurring and induced ecological activity and growth. Forests are also important sources of revenue for tourism. Israel has a notable history of research into reforestation, afforestation, timber, forest by-products, land and water use and management, and flora and fauna.
In this war, the forests are being used to lay waste to the country and demoralize Israel. Scorched barren landscapes, in places covered in the red and orange of fire retardants, are painful reminders of the rich hues of green vegetation that stood tall there.
It is at just such a point of despondency that trees have a blessed presence in Judaism. Tu B’Shvat celebrates the beginning of the new year for trees, when in Israel, fruit-bearing trees produce their first blossoms. Trees are planted in memory of loved ones. Trees are symbolic of life in all its aspects. It is for this reason that the forests of northern Israel are cared for and so precious in time of war.