"Instead of Tombstones - a Tree, a Garden, a Grove": Early Israeli Forests as Environmental Memorials

The article adds a material-semiotic memory studies perspective to the discussion on the two largest afforestation projects of early Israeli statehood: Ya’ar HaMeginim (Defenders’ Forest) and Ya’ar HaKedoshim (Martyrs’ Forest). Considering the multiplicity of contexts related to mass tree planting practices conducted by the Jewish National Fund in Israel, the article analyses the two arboreal complexes as environmental memorials. As such, they are attributed with narrative agency that strongly associates the object of commemoration with socially constructed pastoral features of nature. Moreover, due to their organic substance, they hold affective and material capacities that significantly influence the commemorative after-effects. The two Israeli mnemonic assemblages are examined, and conclusions are drawn on the possible outcomes of environmental memorials for collective memory processes.