Yosef Weitz

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Yosef Weitz (Hebrew: יוסף ויץ, sometimes transliterated as Joseph Weitz or Joseph Weits; 1890–1972) was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1932, when Weitz joined the JNF, there were only 91,000 Jews in Palestine (about 10% of the population) who owned just 2% of the land. Weitz oversaw the program to purchase properties from absentee landlords and run the Palestinian tenant farmers off their land. However it soon became clear that the purchase of small lots of land would not get close to fulfilling the Zionists' dream of creating a Jewish-majority state in the region of Palestine and that it would be necessary to force the exodus of the Arab population. Due to Weitz's role in the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs in 1948, he became known as the "Architect of Transfer". He also became known as the "Father of the Forests" for his work in afforestation, which was done largely to cover up the destroyed Palestinian villages.