How
Zionists made the land bloom by eradicating malaria
European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen has come under attack from Israel-haters for saying the truth that Israel “literally made
the desert bloom.” The Palestinian foreign
ministry condemned her, calling her statement a “racist trope”.
One of the ways the
Zionists made the land bloom is by draining swamps and eradicating malaria.
A 1920 British map
shows the entire central and northern parts of the land infected with malaria,
with the most severely affected areas being valleys and coastal regions with a
high concentration of swamps.
In 1921 British authorities reported that widespread
malaria “has decimated the
population” and is “an effective
bar to the development and settlement of large tracts of fertile lands” and that “much well-watered and
fertile land is at present lying waste on account of malaria”.
Just 20 years later,
the Zionist anti-malaria campaign changed everything.
In 1941 the British Mandate
reported that ‘In a number of
areas where intense endemic malaria had resulted in no population for
generations, recent antimalarial schemes have created large tracts of
cultivatable land’ and that ‘very large areas of what is recognised
by all as some of the most fertile land in the country have been reclaimed,
after centuries of waste’.
Early attempts to drain the swamps relied on the Eucalyptus,
a very ‘thirsty’ tree brought from
Australia which uses up to 200 litres of water a day.
A 1911 report entitled ‘Zionist Work in Palestine’ reported
that 400,000 eucalyptus trees had been planted to drain the soil.
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EUCALYPTUS FOREST NEAR EIN HAROD |
Despite the early efforts, pre-WW1
efforts to eradicate malaria generally failed. Many died of malaria and many
others left.
In 1922, Dr. Israel Kligler, a
Zionist Jew, started the first
successful national malaria-elimination campaign in the world. Kligler
introduced a methodical and systematic approach which relied on Arab and
Jewish cooperation of entire communities to
assist in the anti-malaria work.
Kligler focused on education. He pointed
out that it was possible to obtain the population’s active cooperation only
after the population understood fully the significance and value of the work.
The anti-mosquito campaign was
concerned with limiting the breeding in wells, cisterns and other man
receptacles by regular inspections and spraying of repellents.
One of the new methods
that Kligler initiated was the introduction
of Gambusia fish to water sources in the country in 1923. The fish eat mosquito larvae as soon as they
hatch from the eggs. The fish turned out
to be an effective biological means against mosquito's larvae. The result was
the almost total eradication of malaria in the upper Jordan by using where
appropriate combinations of anti-larval fish and drainage techniques.
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Mosquito larvae |
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Male mosquito larvae eating Gambusia affinis |
Swamps were dried by building drainage channels and
the swamps were sprayed with pesticide.
The draining work in malaria-infected
areas was very dangerous and many lost their lives.
 |
Swamp draining at Yagur, 1924 |
 |
A Jewish girl throwing
larvicide in Emek Hefer. |
After the State of Israel declared its
independence, anti-malaria efforts continued, and in 1967 the World Health
Organization declared malaria eliminated in Israel.
Yes, Ursula von der Leyen is correct. Zionists did make the land bloom.
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Postscript by Elder:
My response to seeing the "racist trope" accusation on Twitter was to post this snippet of an article in Scientific American, April 1960:
You can also see a collection of how Israel has been a leader in green tech here.
Friday, June 02, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
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