Djemal Pasha
From March to October 1915, a swarm of locusts stripped areas in and around Palestine of almost all vegetation. This infestation seriously compromised the already depleted food supply of the region and sharpened the misery of all Jerusalemites. Djemal Pasha, Supreme Commander of Syria and Arabia, who mounted a campaign to limit the devastation, asked the American Colony photographers to document the progress of the locust hordes.