The 1918 Jaffa Orange Grove Destruction: Scorched Earth in Palestine

In the final months of World War I, the retreating Ottoman army carried out a systematic scorched-earth campaign in Palestine's coastal plain. Over 200,000 Jaffa orange trees—the backbone of the region's economy—were cut down or burned. This episode follows the destruction of the shamouti groves from November 1917 to September 1918, tracing how Jamal Pasha's Fourth Army turned a thriving export empire into a wasteland. We explore the immediate impact on fellahin families, the role of Jewish colonies like Petah Tikva in sheltering refugees, and the long economic shadow cast by the loss of trees that took decades to replant. The episode also examines the British military's response under General Allenby, the legal battles over compensation that dragged through the Mandate years, and how an environmental catastrophe became a political wound. With names like Najib Nassar, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the American Red Cross appearing in the background, this is a story of wartime destruction that reshaped Palestine's landscape and economy for generations.

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