The skies around Tel Aviv and Petach Tikvah were darkened today as the locust invasion of Israel from Jordan began in earnest. The swarms, coming from the east, passed the coastal cities and continued over the Mediterranean but soon returned and settled in the Sharon Valley, near Jordan, and around Safad. Other swarms were seen in the Jerusalem-Hebron area.
After a detailed examination of the insects, Israeli agricultural experts said that the pests were adults which are not harmful to plant life. However, they emphasized that the adults would soon lay eggs and that the danger to crops would come 14 days later when the young insects emerge from the eggs.
The experts said that they would spread poison in the areas where the egg-laying adults settle and thus kill the next generation of young. For this reason, they urged, the adults should not be disturbed and scattered over wide areas where they could not be checked adequately by poison.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
