The 1915 Locust Attack in Syria and Palestine and its Role in the Famine During the First World War
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 51; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00263206.2014.976624
ISSN1743-7881
Autores Tópico(s)Cassava research and cyanide
ResumoAbstractThe famine that befell Syria during the First World War was among the most tragic events in the region's modern history. The article argues that the 1915 locust attack, which is often neglected altogether or given terse treatment as one among a laundry list of causes of the famine, was a critical factor which drove many across the region, especially in Lebanon and Palestine, to starvation beginning in late 1915. Given that the scale of the attack was far worse than anything Syria had witnessed in many decades, if not centuries; and that a huge percentage of the region's major foodstuffs and sources of livelihood, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, fodder and a small but not insignificant amount of cereals, were devoured by the locusts, it is suggested that many of the 100,00–200,000 people that died from starvation or starvation-related diseases in the year immediately following the attack – that is, from November 1915 to November 1916 – can be attributed to the locust invasion. Notes1. Syria, as I refer to it, includes what were the Ottoman provinces of Syria, Aleppo and Beirut and the districts of Mount Lebanon and Jerusalem.2. Linda Schilcher's oft-cited essay on the famine estimates that starvation or starvation-related diseases led to 500,000 deaths by the end of 1918. L. Schilcher, 'The Famine of 1915–1918 in Greater Syria', in J.P. Spagnolo (ed.), Problems of the Modern Middle East in Historical Perspective, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp.229, 231.3. Kemal Karpat provides the following estimates in 1914: Aleppo (667,290), Beirut (824,873), Syria (918,409), and Jerusalem (328,168). K. Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830–1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), pp.170–88. Karpat's figures do not include Mount Lebanon, which is typically estimated at 415,000–630,000 in 1914 (see M. Tanielian, 'The War of Famine: Everyday Life in Wartime Beirut and Mount Lebanon, 1914–1918' (PhD thesis, UC Berkeley, 2012, p.6), for a grand total of 3.13–3.35 million, which is on the very low end of the range of the most commonly cited figures, such as those by Georges Samné (4.37 million), Paul Huvelin (4.3), Henri Brénier (4.1), Bernard (4.0), Ruppin (4.0, as of March 1915) Grobba (4.0), Nadra Moutrain (3.49), , Boedeker (3.33), Ghanem (3.3) and al-Manar (3.25). For the latter, see al-Manar, Vol.18, No.1 (1915), pp.67–8; for Grobba, see F. Grobba, Die Getreidewirtschaft Syriens und Palästinas seit Beginn des Weltkriegs (Hannover: H. Lafaire, 1923), p.8; for Ruppin, see A. Ruppin, An Economic Survey of Syria (New York: Provisional Zionist Committee, 1918), p.6; for complete references to all of the remaining figures, see N. Sadaka, 'La Question Syrienne pendant la Guerre de 1914' (PhD thesis, Université de Paris, 1940), pp.32–4. These enormous discrepancies are partly due to the fact that scholars differed on what percentage of the population remained unregistered. Grobba, Die Getreidewirtschaft Syriens, pp.8–9.4. Compare this to Serbia (12 per cent), Bulgaria (5 per cent) and Romania (∼3.5–6.7 per cent). Russia, the UK, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary each saw less than 1 per cent of its civilian population perish. The civilian death rate of the Ottoman Empire as a whole has been estimated at about 9.4 per cent. J. Ellis and M. Cox, The World War I Databook (London: Aurum Press, 1993), pp.269–70. Iran also suffered tremendously, where the death rate due to famine may have been as high as 40 per cent. M.G. Majd, The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917–1919 (Oxford: University Press of America, 2003), p.5.5. Schilcher, 'The Famine of 1915–1918', p.234.6. Many of the most serious publications on the war make only scant mention of the locusts. See, for instance, M. Eliav (ed.), Ba-Matsor uba-Matsok: Erets Yisrael Be-Milhemet ha-'Olam ha-Rishonah (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1991); N. Efrati, Mi-Mashber le-Tikva: Ha-Yishuv ha-Yehudi be-Erets Israel be-Milhemet ha-'Olam ha-Rishonah (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi Institute, 1991). Melanie Tanielian's recent study ('The War of Famine', pp.19–20, 25–7) has only marginally more to say about the locusts, and even here, the discussion is primarily focused on eradication efforts rather than damage assessment. She concludes that, while natural forces (variously described as locusts, lack of rainfall and poor harvest) may have 'added their own ingredients to the devastation', they were accomplices to 'more fundamental triggers', including the Entente and Ottoman naval blockades on import and export goods, military commandeering, requisitioning and confiscation of food and means of transportation, the conscription of farm labour, the confiscation of draft animals and wartime profiteering. Tanielian, 'The War of Famine', pp.48, 108. Salim Tamari must certainly be credited for bringing attention to the issue with the publication of 'Am al-Jarad (first in Arabic), then in English as Year of the Locust, the wartime diary of the Jerusalemite soldier Ihsan Tourjaman. While the diary itself is only of anecdotal value for understanding the locust attack, Tamari's introduction and his choice of title raised awareness of this largely neglected subject. S. Tamari, Year of the Locust: A Soldier's Diary and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).7. J. Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun fi al-Harb al–Ula: al-Jarad, al-Ghala', al-Maja'a, al-Wafayat', in A. Qissis (ed.), Lubnan fi al-Harb al-'Alamiyya al-Ula, Vol.1 (Beirut: Manshurat al-Jami'a al-Lubnaniyya, Qism al-Dirasat al-Tarikhiyya, 2011), pp.790–857.8. There are fewer than eight double-spaced pages (of nearly 545) which rely almost entirely on four sources (1) J.D. Whiting's 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague: Being a Description of the Recent Locust Influx into Palestine and Comparing them with Ancient Locust Invasions as Narrated in the Old World's History Book, the Bible', National Geographic Magazine, Vol.28, No.6 (1915), pp.510–50; (2) Archie Crawford's diary, which records locust sightings in various parts of Lebanon; (3) interviews conducted more than 50 years after the First World War; and (4) one report by Bayard Dodge written after the end of the war. See N.Z. Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon and the Wilayah of Beirut, 1914–1918: The War Years' (PhD thesis, Georgetown University, 1972), pp.334–42. For Crawford's diary, see ibid, appendix II, p.122–150; for Dodge's report, see ibid, appendix V:B, pp.291–311.9. Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon', p.378.10. Ibid., pp.387, 390. Ajay's analysis goes a long way in explaining why Lebanon was hit the hardest: three of its most important sources of income – silk, remittances and tourism – came to a halt due to the war. Because of their similar reliance on remittances and tourism, Jerusalem and Safed were hit hard as well.11. This estimate is based on the following sub-totals (in tons): wheat and barley: 150,000–225,000, potatoes and beets: 160,000, durra: 160,000, olives: 18,900–24,000; grapes: 40,000–48,000 or 200,000–250,000; oranges: 5,725–10,176; almonds: 132. These are estimates of the (minimum) destruction rates for only the crops for which we have reasonably reliable data, leaving aside entirely the crops for which we have no reliable data on their average annual yields but for which we know the damage was extensive – apricots, figs, strawberries, mulberries, raspberries, pistachios, prickly pears, melons, pomegranates, lemons, quinces, cacti fruit, apples, plums, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, carrots, cabbage, artichoke, asparagus, cauliflower, salk (salad green), sesame, spinach, squash, ryegrass, onions, chickpeas, lentils, black-eyed peas, beans, vetches, lupins, rye, clover, mangolds and alfalfa. All of this will be dealt with in greater depth below.12. Although this nevertheless supposes that somehow export markets could have been quickly found abroad, and the goods swiftly shipped and distributed – a rather imprudent supposition to make. The ability of the state or merchants to find such markets would have been further impeded by the fact that virtually none of the crops destroyed by the locusts had ever been imported, save for small amounts of flour. The only two significant food imports were sugar and rice. See M.S. Kalla, 'The Role of Foreign Trade in the Economic Development of Syria, 1831–1914' (PhD thesis, The American University, 1969), pp.266–70.13. Some 50 per cent of the region's grain was internally shipped by rail to markets inside Syria on the eve of the war. R. Owen, The Middle East in the World Economy, 1800–1914 (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1993 [1981]), p.246.14. Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon', pp.351–84; Schilcher, 'The Famine of 1915–1918', pp.236–50.15. Ha-Khakla'i, Vol.4, No.1 (March–April 1915), p.1; S. Baron, The Desert Locust (London: Eyre Methuen, 1972), p.53.16. Desert locusts are born crawling, and can only grow wings through physical contact with other desert locusts. For a more detailed description of the phase changes, see n.a., The Great Invasion of the Locusts in Egypt in 1915 and the Measures Adopted to Deal with it (Cairo: Government Press, 1916), pp.21–40; Baron, The Desert Locust, ch.3; Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.516.17. Locusts were spotted in Fayum, Siwa, the Delta, the Canal Zone and elsewhere in Egypt from November 1914 to March 1915. n.a., The Great Invasion, pp.10–18; al-Ittihad al-'Uthmani, 27 April 1915.18. The accounts of many soldiers who participated in the first Ottoman assault on the Suez Canal (in Jan.–Feb. 1915) attest to this. As one soldier recalls during the trek across the Sinai desert, 'the valleys were dry, and then, all of a sudden, it began to rain heavily and the valley experienced serious flooding'. M. Behçet, Büyük Harpte Misir Seferi (İstanbul: Askeri Matbası, 1930), p.3; Abi-Zayd wrote that the Ottomans happened upon heavy rains in December, January and February 1914–15, which the Sinai desert had not witnessed in many years. N.B. Abi-Zayd, al-'Asr al-Damawi (Damascus: Matba'at al-Mufid, 1919), p.160. See also S. Robenstein, Al ha-Yetsiyah ve-ha-Kurban: Livtey ha-Yeridah Mitsraimah be-Reshit Milkhemet ha-'Olam ha-Rishonah (Jerusalem: s.i., 1988), p.11; A. Kabacalı, Arap Çöllerinde Türkler (Cağaloğlu, İstanbul: Cem Yayınevi, 1990), p.13; E. Pimental et al., Milhemet ha-'Olam ha-Rishonah ba-Negev (Sedeh Boker: Midreshet Sedeh Boker, 1990), p.38.19. J.D. Whiting, 'Economic Conditions: Causes and Results', March 1915, doc. #186 in box 16/6. John D. Whiting Papers, Manuscript Department Library of Congress, Washington, DC (MD-LOC); H. Bücher et al., Die Heuschreckenplage und Ihre Bekämpfung (Berlin: Parey, 1918), p.8; Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon', p.337; M.I. al-'Izza, Sana al-Qaht wa-l-Jarad (Bethlehem University Oral History Project 91470) (5:30 in recording).20. In Ürgüp and Konya, Ottoman officials stressed that the entirety of the harvest had been destroyed. For Ürgüp, see the Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, (BOA) DH.I.UM.EK 93/64 (11 June 1915); for Konya, see BOA DH.I.UM.EK 93/64 (9 June 1915); on locusts in Adana, see Bücher et al., Die Heuschreckenplage und Ihre Bekämpfung, pp.9–10; Fruits and vegetables were destroyed as far away as Sivas in July 1915, see n.a., Germany, Turkey and Armenia (London: J.J. Keliher & Co., 1917), p.43 There were also locust outbreaks in 1915 and 1916 throughout Western Anatolia. It remains unclear if these outbreaks originated from the Sinai or if they were isolated plagues. See E. Gökmen, 'Batı Anadolu'da Çekirge Felaketi (1850–1914)', Belleten, Vol.LXXIV, No.269 (2010), p.129.21. The local governor of the Tihama region of the Hijaz wrote this to the Porte, adding that the province had gone a full week without any wheat shipments. He appealed to have more provisions and wheat sent to meet the basic needs of the army there. BOA DH-I.UM.EK 11/20 (2 Oct. 1915).22. According to Yamin, there were powerful downpours in Lebanon in the winter of 1915 and northward winds in the second half of March 1915. See A.K. Yamin, Lubnan fi al-Harb (Beirut: al-Matba'a al-Adabiyya, 1919), pp.94, 102. al-Ittihad al-'Uthmani reported on 15 April 1915 that the total amount of rain that year had been 34.60 inches, whereas the previous year it had been 33.34 (an increase of 1.26), indicating that the first four months of 1915 had witnessed more rain than the entire previous year. Ali Mu'ti also claims that 20 days of non-stop heavy rains after a particularly harsh winter led the locusts northward from Jaffa to Lebanon on 9 April 1915. A. Mu'ti, Tarikh Lubnan al-Siyasi wa-l-Ijtima'i: Dirasa fi al-'Alaqat al-'Arabiyya al-Turkiyya, 1908–1918 (Beirut: Mu'assasat 'Izz al-Din lil-Tiba'a wa-al-Nashr, 1992), p.228; on heavy rains in the spring of 1915, see also an untitled Zionist report by Oettinger, 5 May 1915, p.2, Z3/1480, Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem (CZA); ha-Herut, 1 July 1915; on the late-May rains, see Sijjil al-Yawmiyyat (29 July 1902–12 Dec. 1920), 29 May 1915 (p.91), Harissa Church, St. Paul (HCSP) (al-Jam'iyya al-Bulisiyya), Lebanon; on the strong winds, see A. Bik, Suriya wa-l-Lubnan fi al-Harb al-'Alamiyya: al-Istikhbarat wa-l-Jasusiyya fi al-Dawla al-'Uthmaniyya (Beirut: s.n., 1993), p.60.23. n.a., The Great Invasion, p.21. For high temperatures and warm air currents in Beirut, see al-Ittihad al-'Uthmani, 15 April 1915; Mu'ti, Tarikh Lubnan al-Siyasi, p.228.24. In Jaffa, they struck three times (S. Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion of Palestine of 1915', Hadar (1928), p.14); in Rehovot (near Jaffa), four times (I. Aharoni, Ha-Arbeh: Hiker ve-Hiber (Jerusalem, n.p., 1922), p.39); in Jerusalem, at least four times (A. Elmaliach, Erets Israel Ve-Suriyah Bi-yemey Milhemet Ha-'Olam (Jerusalem: Ha-Solel, 1928), pp.139–69); in other unspecified places in Syria, five or six times (M. McGilvary, The Dawn of a New Era in Syria (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1920), p.180).25. Locusts were still devouring green in Jerusalem in October, November and December 1915, see P.B.T. Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael (Jerusalem: Dfus Tzurkman, 1927/28), p.9. For further sightings in late 1915 and 1916, see Bücher et al., Die Heuschreckenplage und Ihre Bekämpfung, p.10; H. Glenk et al., From Desert Sands to Golden Oranges: The History of the German Templer Settlement of Sarona in Palestine 1871–1947 (Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005), p.62; Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.14; Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun', p.804.26. A. Aaronsohn, Ha-Milhama be-Arbeh (Jerusalem: ha-Or, 1915), p.4; Elmaliach, Erets Israel, p.146.27. Yamin, Lubnan fi al-Harb, p.10328. Sijjil al-Yawmiyyat, 12 April 1915 (p.90), HCSP.29. R.R. Tahtawi, Kitab al-Ta'ribat al-Shafiyya li-Murid al-Jughrafiya (Bulaq: Dar al-Tiba'a al-Khidyawiyya, 1838), p.150.30. Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.5.31. The timing of the attack could often be the most crucial variable: if the locusts arrive before barley and wheat are harvested (end of April/first half of May and end of May, respectively), this could be totally disastrous. If the locusts arrive after the cereals have been harvested, such as in 1877, but before the summer crops have begun to bloom, the plague might be less consequential, insofar as some trees, such as olives, which are not harvested until November, can recover from a minor locust attack early in the season, while other summer crops can be replanted. If locusts attack later in the season (July or August) only the summer crop would be affected. For both the winter and summer crops to experience damage in a geographical expanse as wide as Anatolia, Syria, the Hijaz, Egypt and Iraq – was therefore extremely rare.32. C.G. Powles (ed.), The History of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles (Auckland: Whitecombe and Tombs Ltd., 1928), pp.19–20. The British reported in 1915 that 'locusts were observed at a height of 3,000 feet above the Sinai Peninsula'. See n.a., The Great Invasion, p.21.33. Hadassah Central Committee Bulletin No.8, March 1915, p.5, Rachel (Rae) Diane Landy Papers P-785 Box 1, folder 2, American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) (New York).34. This was the largest attack during the period, referred to as 'year of the locusts'. Although the exact area affected or the extent of the damage was not ascertainable, at least one anecdotal account suggested the damage was quite extensive: 'the locusts ate all the green and all the summer crops: durra, sesame, and they destroyed all of the vineyards and invaded homes'. P.B.T. Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael (Jerusalem: Dfus Tsurkman, 1927/28), p.4. Having said this, Grayevski had a propensity for hyperbole, and described attacks in 1878 and 1885 with similarly exaggerated language. For further mention of the 1865–66 attack, see J.D. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague: Being a Description of the Recent Locust Influx into Palestine and Comparing them with Ancient Locust Invasions as Narrated in the Old World's History Book, the Bible', National Geographic Magazine, Vol.28, No.6 (1915), p.511; Z. 'Amar, ha-Arbeh be-Masoret Yisrael (Ramat-Gan: Hotsa'at Universitat Bar Ilan, 2004), pp.33–5; A. Ruppin, An Economic Survey of Syria (New York: Provisional Zionist Committee, 1918), p.11; J. Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun fi al-Harb al-Ula: al-Jarad, al-Ghala', al-Maja'a, al-Wafayat', in A. Qissis (ed.), Lubnan fi al-Harb al-'Alamiyya al-Ula, Vol.1 (Beirut: Manshurat al-Jami'a al-Lubnaniyya, Qism al-Dirasat al-Tarikhiyya, 2011), p.800.35. Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun', p.800.36. Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.5. The locusts 'descended in great numbers upon Jerusalem and the entire Land of Israel, and ate all the green of the earth and the fruit of the trees', ibid., p.5. Given Grayevski's penchant for hyperbole, we should be somewhat suspicious of his claims.37. 'Amar, ha-Arbeh be-Masoret Yisrael, pp.33–5; Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.5.38. Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.6.39. 'Amar, ha-Arbeh be-Masoret Yisrael, pp.33–5.40. Whiting claims wheat and barley were destroyed. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.511; Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.6.41. Locusts invaded the Beqaa' for 7 consecutive years in the 1890s. , F.S. Bodenheimer 'Notes on the Invasions of Palestine by Rare Locusts', Israel Exploration Journal, Vol.1, No.3 (1950–51), p.148.42. On the cities in today's Jordan, see N.R. Hammud, 'Amman wa-Jiwaruha khilala al-Fatra 1864–1340 (Amman: Bank al-A'mal, 1995), p.319; Bodenheimer, 'Notes on the Invasions', p.148; on the Jerusalem area, see Grayevski, Ha-Arbeh be-Erets Yisrael, p.6.43. Hammud, 'Amman wa-Jiwaruha, p.319; Bodenheimer, 'Notes on the Invasions', p.148.44. Hammud, 'Amman wa-Jiwaruha, p.319; on the Galilee, see Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', pp.511–13; on Lebanon, see 'al-Jarad fi Suriya', al-Mashriq, Vol.2 (1899), p.365; Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun', p.801.45. Hammud, 'Amman wa-Jiwaruha, p.319; Bodenheimer, 'Notes on the Invasions', p.148.46. Z. Ghanayim, Liwa 'Akka fi 'Ahd al-Tanzimat al-'Uthmaniyya 1863–1918 (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya, 1999), p.402.47. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.511; n.a., The Great Invasion, pp.1, 12–13.48. Ruppin, An Economic Survey of Syria, p.14. The damage was described as partial or moderate.49. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.511; n.a., The Great Invasion, pp.1, 12–13.50. Letter from Wooks to Bub, 14 April 1915. Bayard Dodge Collection (BDC), A.A. 2.3. (15/1), American University of Beirut (AUB)51. Yamin, Lubnan fi al-Harb, p.103.52. al-Ittihad al-'Uthmani, 15 April 1915 for similar descriptions, also see ibid, 12 April 1915; ha-Herut, 24 March 1915; G. Sdun-Fallscheer, Jahre des Lebens (Stuttgart: J.F. Steinkopf Verlag, 1985), p.488.53. Y. al-Haddad, al-Lubnaniyya: Risala fi Nakabat Lubnan Muddat al-Harb ila al-Muhajirin (Rio de Janeiro: Matba'at al-Sawwab, 192?), p.25.54. McGilvary, The Dawn of a New Era, p.180.55. al-Safa', 3 April 1915.56. C. de Ballobar, E.M. Moreno and R. Mazza (eds. and trans.), Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011), p.68; for a similar description, see M. Ben-Hillel Ha-Cohen, Milhemet ha-Amim 1914–1918: Yoman (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi, 1981), p.91.57. Cited in H. Amin et al. (ed.), Min Daftar al-Dhikrayyat al-Janubiyya (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani, 1981), p.113.58. Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion', p.14.59. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.524.60. M.E. James, 'Life in Safed During the War', Jewish Military Intelligence, Vol.7, No.3 (1919), pp.67–8.61. Many of the figures on destruction rates cited here and elsewhere come from estimates produced for the Zionist settlements only, or from a particular region, such as Jaffa. Since there is no reason to suspect these destruction rates should have differed significantly from regional ones, I have extrapolated them for the region as a whole. Indeed, wherever supplemental evidence is available, it generally tends to support this supposition. For the 80 per cent estimate, see Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16; Zionist report titled 'Auszug', Oct. 1915, p.7 in CZA Z3/1480; see also Sdun-Fallscheer, Jahre des Lebens, p.489.62. For evidence of cultivation of these fruits, see the Douma and Balamand Monastery accounting books: Daftar al-Hulasa, 1914–18, St John Monastery (SJM), Douma, Balamand University Archives (BUA), Balamand, Lebanon; and Daftar al-Zimam, August 1914, Balamand Monastery, BUA; see also Ruppin, An Economic Survey, pp.12, 20–21.63. Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.20. Although Ruppin claims they were grown only in the Zionist settlements, this seems to have been an oversight, as they were described as a common treat in a Sidon in 1916–17, meaning the actual annual yield of almonds was almost certainly much higher. See 'Report of the Sidon Seminary, 1916–1917', p.2, Institutional Reports, 1915–20, Record Group 90, box 3, Presbyterian Historian Society (PHS), Philadelphia, PA.64. Two sources claimed all of the almonds in the Judean Hills were destroyed. Ha-Poel ha-Tsáir, 19 March 1915; Oettinger to Keren Kayemet, Alexandria, 12 Sept. 1915, CZA Z3/1480. Other sources claimed a 50–70 per cent destruction rate: Zionist report titled 'Auszug', Oct. 1915, p.6 in CZA Z3/1480; V.L. Rosenberg, 'Die Hueschrecken in Palästina', Der Tropenpflanzer, Vol.18 (1915), p.669. Elmaliach (Erets Yisrael, p.167) placed the figure somewhat lower, from 10 per cent in some locals to 50 per cent in others.65. Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.20.66. 6,065 dunams of a total 7,665 dunams of Petah Tikva's oranges were destroyed, a rate of roughly 80 per cent. Zionist report titled 'Auszug', p.6, Oct. 1915, CZA Z3/1480; Rosenberg, 'Die Hueschrecken', p. 669. Elmaliach (Erets Yisrael, p.167) writes that of the irrigated crops (primarily oranges) grown in all the Zionist settlements combined (9,500 dunams), 1,500 dunams were completely destroyed; 1,719 dunams were harvested, and the remaining 6,300 dunams experienced some damage. Rokach ('A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16) estimated a 45 per cent destruction rate in 1915 and 22.5 per cent in 1916.67. There is a major discrepancy in the sources. For the year 1913, Himadeh suggested that the area of grape cultivation was 740,200 dunams, but also provides the much higher annual yield figure. See S.B. Himadeh, Economic Organization of Syria (Beirut: American Press, 1936), p.85. Ruppin (An Economic Survey, p.19) estimated a larger area of cultivation (917,227), but the much lower figure for annual yields. More research is needed to make sense of these disparities.68. Rokach ('A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16) estimated 80 per cent. Elmaliach (Erets Yisrael, p.67) estimated 90 per cent. Two additional reports lamented that the grapes 'brought no harvest whatsoever'. Zionist report titled 'Auszug', Oct. 1915, p.6 in CZA Z3/1480; Rosenberg, 'Die Hueschrecken', p.669.69. The District of Jerusalem (in 1910) had 3,593,566 olive trees, which bore some 13,283 tons of olives. See Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p. 19. If Palestine (presumably, in this case, equivalent to the District of Jerusalem), produced over 40 per cent more olive oil than the District of Mount Lebanon, the District of Beirut and the District of Tripoli combined (on this point, see M.R. Buheiry, 'Agricultural Exports of Southern Palestine, 1885–1914', Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol.10, No.4 (1981), p.73), this would suggest an additional 9,488 tons of olives produced in those districts. No estimates for the Provinces of Syria or Aleppo were found, but even an extremely conservative estimate of an additional 10,000 tons per year would leave us with a regional annual yield of 30,000 tons of olives.70. 3,171 dunams of 4,371 Zionist olive groves were destroyed (63 per cent). Zionist report titled 'Auszug', Oct. 1915, p.7 in CZA Z3/1480. Rokach ('A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16) estimated 80 per cent. al-Muqattam wrote that the olive groves of northern Lebanon were hit especially hard, and that the price of oil had increased drastically. Cited in Nakhkhul, 'Bilad al-Batrun', p.803.71. For the 10–20 per cent range, see Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion', p.15; for 100 per cent, see 'Notes from a meeting of the General Committee of the Syria and Palestine Relief Fund, interview with Dr. Glazebrook', 3 Oct. 1917, p.92, MS 2611, Lambeth Palace Library (LPL), London.72. Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16.73. Ibid., pp.15–16; The Co-operative Wine Growers' Society of Rishon LeZion, estimated that the average aggregate loss for the three agricultural seasons (1915–17) was roughly 70 per cent. E.R. Sawer, A Review of the Agricultural Situation in Palestine (s.i.: Greek Conv. Press, 1923), p.28; The German Templars agreed: 'it took years for many plants to recover from the locust plague and for the vineyards and orchards to become productive again'. Glenk et al., From Desert Sands, p.63.74. Many mulberry trees, for instance, still bore no fruit as late as February 1917. 'Notes from a meeting of the General Committee of the Syria and Palestine Relief Fund, interview with Dr. Glazebrook', 3 Oct. 1917, p.92, MS 2611 (LPL).75. See Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.1276. Whiting went so far as to suggest that 'being one of the food staples of the poor … the loss of this crop [olive oil], combined with the grapes, no doubt will outweigh … the destruction caused to all other crops combined'. Whiting, 'Jerusalem's Locust Plague', p.543. Other observers agreed, writing that 'oil is among the most important Palestinian subsistence foods', especially in the villages, insofar as it is eaten with bread, it is used to cook with, as well as treat the sick, produce soap and clothes'. K. Totah and H. Khuri, Jughrafiyat Filastin (Jerusalem: Matba'at Bayt al-Maqdis, 1923), pp.37–8. Indeed, soap became prohibitively expensive after the locust attack, hastening the spread of diseases, such as cholera, typhoid and typhus (discussed further in section three). See Tanielian, 'War of Famine', p.92. Dr. Nabih Shab suggested as well that: 'there was an increased disease rate during the war. This was caused in part by poor sanitary conditions which resulted from the shortage of soap. Soap was not available because most of it was home made and two important ingredients were lacking. One was oil, olive oil usually, of which there was a shortage because the olive crop was destroyed by the locusts in April 1915. The other ingredient, sodium hydroxide, had to be imported and this was naturally, prevented by the sea blockade'. See Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon', p.410. 77. For evidence of cultivation, see Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.17.78. For the 80 per cent figure, see Rokach, 'A Report on the Locust Invasion', pp.15–16. Grobba (Die Getreidewirtschaft Syriens, p.14) estimated that 75 per cent of the native corn (durra) of the region was destroyed. See also Sdun-Fallscheer, Jahre des Lebens, p.489; undated and untitled Zionist report, CZA Z3/1472. Whiting added that there was 'utter destruction' to the sesame fields, corn and vegetable gardens: 'just as the vegetables hit the market, the eggs of the second generation of the locusts began to hatch … the prices of vegetables advanced by leaps and bounds, but shortly there were no more to be had in the markets, the destruction being so complete, except a small quantity from Jericho and Nablous [sic], till these also in turn were entirely devastated'. 'Locusts in Palestine', doc. #206 in box 16/6. John D. Whiting Papers (MD-LOC).79. Elmaliach, Erets Yisrael, p.167.80. Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.16.81. A. Ruppin to J.H. Kann, Jaffa, 18 Aug. 1915, p.1, CZA Z3/1480; see also an undated and untitled Zionist report, (CZA) Z3/1472. One observer commented in the Hama region that 'there was no grass, the locusts have consumed everything'. See n.a., Germany, Turkey and Armenia, p.121.82. One source even suggested that 'most of the cattle and sheep consequently died' as a result of the destruction of the pastures. 'Situation in Syria', p.4, Foreign Office (FO) 371.2777, The (British) National Archives, TNA. See also Tanielian, 'War of Famine', p.143; James, 'Life in Safed', p.86. Harissa also recorded that 'animals are extremely rare [in Zahle] since most of them have starved to death'; Sijjil al-Yawmiyyat, p.102 (4 March 1916) HCSP.83. See Ajay, 'Mount Lebanon', p.296; Report of the 'Abeih and Suk el-Gharb Soup Kitchens, Box 18 File 3 Howard Bliss Collection (HBC) A.A. 2.3. (4/12 and 4/38), AUB.84. Ha-Khakla'i, Vol.4, 5–6 (July–Sept. 1915), p.136.85. Glenk, From Desert Sands, p.62; James, 'Life in Safed', p.86.86. Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.15.87. Grobba, Die Getreidewirtschaft Syriens, p.5.88. Ruppin, An Economic Survey, p.17.89. One newspaper wrote that 'the new harvest is one of extreme plenty and abundance, something which has never before been seen (lam yaz
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