1951 Joop De Jong was born in Oudenbosch, a small town in southern Holland close to the Belgian border, not far from Zundert, the town where Van Gogh was raised. His mother tongue is Dutch and at home the family spoke a Brabantian dialect which closely resembles Flemish.
He grew up as part of a Protestant minority, living in a delicate balance with a dominant Catholic population

1955-57 Enrolled at a catholic kindergarden. His teachers are nuns, and his environment is that of the closed monastery, where his early memories are of gloomy statues of catholic saints.

1958-62 Joop studies at a Protestant primary school.

1963-69  Studies at a high school run by monks, where he encounters the complexity of the world of two faiths. He receives a broad education in various subjects, showing outstanding talent and intelligence and excelling at studies and games. Joop is well accepted socially by the other children. He studies science, archaeology, history; Oudenbosch affords easy access to institutes such as a natural history museum and astronomy observatory.

While acquiring his education he becomes ever more aware of the emphasis on ritual rather than on the spiritual aspects of the religions he experiences on a daily basis.

His mother is a dominant influence while his father is the man with "the golden hands," a toolmaker of the old school, who designs and creates his tools according to need .

1968-1971 With the completion of his studies Joop starts work in a cannery to support his family financially. After an accident at the factory he decides to enroll in a study program as a psychiatric nurse, but does not complete the course.

1972-1973 Joop joins the Dutch army for one year and serves in an intelligence unit.

1973 He arrives in Israel, to kibbutz Merom Golan, to experience kibbutz life for a few months.
The atmosphere of volunteering, of sharing in a communal society, and his involvement and empathy with the Israeli cause after experiencing the Yom Kippur war, convince him to stay longer than planned

1974-1977 Joop returns to the Netherlands for a family visit and to contemplate about his future. He decides to live on the Golan, in Israel.
He joins the Kibbutz as a member. He works in the various production sectors, in agriculture, in the orchards, etc., and in 1981 joins the Tuff stone quarry owned by the kibbutz.

1978-1979 Joop marries Ronit; they travel to the Netherlands for the ceremony. He maintains his Dutch citizenship. Within the next few years the couple has three children, and in 1978 Joop enlists in the Israeli army, where he serves for a year.

 2000 Joop is involved with art from an early age, mainly in drawing and writing. He begins making sculptures from scrap metal. His first work is Don Quichote, a small statue composed of pieces of metal screws and nuts.
Sculpturing, which began as a hobby, soon becomes his main vocation His sculptures are located all around the kibbutz and on the path to the Bental mountaintop

2003 The kibbutz is privatized and the workers in the Tuff quarry are fired.
Joop decides to turn his art into his profession.

2003 He participates in the Sculpture Symposium at Ma'alot. His work Hawk is displayed at the Monfort Lake, Maalot.

, 2004 He displays his works at a one-man exhibition at the Golan Winery in Katzrin

2008 Joop shows a One-man exhibition at the Jerusalem Theater, curator Noga Arad
Joop participates at an open house exhibition at Ramat Efal.

He receives an invitation to create sculptures based on a children's book from the municipality of Holon, where many well-known artists are represented in sculpture gardens. He chooses a book by Dov Elbaum, called "The Lion, its Mane and the Giraffe." The sculptures are of large scale

2009 The Metalmorphosis exhibition at Tal Gallery in Kfar Vradim presents his sculptures and poems, accompanied by a catalogue and a short film.