Belgium’s ambassador to Israel, John Cornet d’Elzius, attended last week a ceremony dedicating a forest grove in the Yatir Forest in memory of 22 children and 6 adults who were killed last year in a bus crash in Sierre, Switzerland.
The children, most of whom were Belgian and some of whom were Dutch, were returning home from a ski holiday.
"This gesture of KKL-JNF dedicating a forest grove in memory of the children, touches our hearts deeply and strengthens the bond between the people of Israel and the people of Belgium. Trees have great symbolic value. On behalf of my country, I would like to thank you for this very meaningful way of commemorating the memory of those who were killed in the bus crash," the ambassador said of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, a Green NGO responsible for afforestation and sustainable development in Israel.
While the ceremony took place at the Neve Ilan Belgian Forest, near Jerusalem, the actual forest grove is located in the Yatir Forest on the edge of the Negev Desert in southern Israel.