Éamon de Valera Forest () is a

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, near

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

. It was planted in 1966 and named after American-born Irish politician and statesman

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

History

The planting and dedication of the forest was arranged by the Dublin Jewish community, in recognition of De Valera's consistent support for Ireland's Jews. In the Irish Constitution of 1937, the drafting of which was personally supervised by De Valera, the writing of the Constitution specifically gave constitutional protection to Jews. This was considered to be a necessary component to the constitution by

because of the treatment of Jews elsewhere in Europe at the time. In 1948 De Valera overruled the Department of Justice when it barred one hundred and fifty refugee Jewish children from travelling to Ireland as refugees. During its dedication to De Valera, Israeli Prime Minister

Levi Eshkol Levi Eshkol ( ;‎ 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik (), was the prime minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. A founder of the Israeli Labor Party, he served in numerous seni ...

read out loud a message to honour the occasion and Ireland-Israel relations in general, saying that the Jews and Irish both "have so much in common."

References

{{coord missing, Israel 1966 establishments in Israel Forests of Israel Éamon de Valera Ireland–Israel relations Jewish Irish history Jews and Judaism in the Republic of Ireland Protected areas established in 1966 Levi Eshkol

History

See also

References