of our forces, with the aid of the military police, took imme diate steps to prevent any looting of the churches and the monasteries, many of which are richly decorated. All churches and holy places in Nazareth were put out of bounds for the Jewish soldiers under heavy penalty for any infringement. As a result all the churches and holy places in Nazareth remained completely intact. And until this day the Arab population of Nazareth is cooperative and fully loyal to the government of Israel.” During our stay in Tel Aviv we had a very interesting interview with Dr. Y. Carmon, chief of the department of Research Extension and Agricultural Education. He gave us a graphic picture of what happened in the early days of pioneering in Israel as the Jews bought land from the Arabs: “ In the old days under the British mandate we purchased the poorest land in Palestine because that was all the Arabs would sell. Much of the soil of such land was marsh-laden or sandy. For the Arabs such soil was too poor to produce so they did not work it. After the marshes were drained they proved to be the finest kind of soil—as in the plain of Esdraelon. And when the sandy soil was properly fertilized and cultivated it produced satisfactory crops. Since the establishment of the State of Israel all types of land are now available. We can now operate the different kinds of land to suit our necessities. “In the Biblical days the plain of Esdraelon was considered to be the granary of the country. The land of Galilee was the best area for the production of olives and grapes. Now we are finding that the soil in the southern part of Israel is as good as that in Esdraelon and Galilee, if it is properly irri gated and cultivated. The Negev in southern Israel is still an unknown quantity, agriculturally. There are large areas of arable land. The problem there is the supply of water because of the limited rainfall. “When an official committee of Americans was here I showed them a map of Palestine, and told them that in our small country we can grow such varied kinds of fruit as apples and bananas, and oranges and mangoes. The reason is that we ate on the northern edge of the- citrus area. We are right on the edge of the temperate and sub-tropical zones—so we can grow everything under the sun!” We asked Dr. Carmon about the extent of the damage caused to the orange crop by the recent fall of snow in Israel that was the heaviest in a generation. He said: “ The snow fall here in Israel this year was indeed terrific. It occurred when I was coming back from Akaba on the gulf. In the southern end of the Negev we had two feet of snow. They had never had such a fall of snow for 70 years. The snow did not do as much damage as we had feared. We had prac tically the same crop of oranges this year as in the previous year. Most of the damage was in the production of bananas and winter tomatoes.” When we began to talk about the growth of oranges in Israel, Dr. Carmon told us a most remarkable story. He said: “ A few years ago an insect called the ‘mealy bug’ came like an avalanche upon our orange trees. These bugs were spreading in waves like an advancing army. A twenty year old orange tree would be killed in three or four months. Spraying the trees did not kill the bugs. The only way to combat them was to find another insect that would kill them. The United States department of agriculture advised me to go to Japan to find the parasite that would kill the mealy bugs. I found the insects and brought them back. There were 3800 of one kind, in all stages of insect life, that did the work; and forty thousand of another kind that did not do any good.” Dr. Carmon said the insect he brought from Japan is called “ Dr. Clausen” in honor of Dr. Clausen of the United States department of agriculture. The insect is a little wasp about one-tenth or one-twelfth of an inch long. “ These Japanese insects would bore right into the mealy bugs and eat the flesh of their bodies, so that only the shell of the mealy bugs would be left. The release of the insects we brought from Japan worked perfectly, and in a compara tively short time the mealy bugs were destroyed and our orange crops were saved.” T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Harvesting Bananas in Israel
a son of Mrs. Fish about the recent Arab-Jewish war. We had heard from others about the fighting in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. But we learned that the young man had taken part in the capture of Nazareth. We asked him to tell us the story and he kindly consented to do' so. He said: “ Nazareth was the headquarters of the Arab ‘Army of Liberation.’ A Jewish column moved toward Naz areth from western Galilee. The Jews sent five or six armored cars ahead of the column to break through, so the infantry could follow. As the Jewish armored cars approached Naz areth they were met by about a dozen armored cars of the Arabs. The Arab cars had cannon mounted on them, while ours only had machine guns. “ The Arab armored cars opened heavy fire on us from strategic points. For a time things looked bad for us. In our column we had just one armor-piercing gun. It was mounted on a jeep. The jeep was sent forward toward the armored cars with one driver and one gunner. In from ten to fifteen minutes this gunner, who is an expert, put at least six of the enemy armored cars out of commission, though the guns on the Arab armored cars were as good or better than our one gun. “When these six enemy cars were put out of action the rest of the Arab armored cars turned and fled. Then our armored cars drove into the city with our infantry following. After a few brief clashes with the Arabs in the streets, the city of Nazareth was taken. Most of the Arabs in Nazareth are not Moslems but Christians. The commander of the Arab army was a Moslem. He did not treat the Christian Arabs of the city well. So the Arab population of Nazareth welcomed the entry of the Jewish forces and did not flee, but are still living in the city. “When the Jewish army entered Nazareth the commander Page Ten
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter