Jewish NGO allocates funds to buy Palestinian-owned land Israel declared the land a closed military zone in 1969, but allowed Jewish settlers to farm it years later The Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Israel on Thursday voted to allocate $18 million to buy Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank, at the request of the Israeli Defense Ministry. Israel declared the land – in the Jordan Valley of the northern West Bank – a closed military zone in 1969, barring its owners from using it. In the 1980s, Israel began allowing Jewish settlers to farm the land, and has since then...