An-Najah Staff

A new cucurbit-infecting whitefl y transmitt ed begomovirus has entered the Mediterranean region (Anti gnus et al., 2003).  This new (to the Palestinian Authority) virus, may have devastating impact on cucurbit crops in the area (Ali-Shtayeh et al., 2010). The virus endangers the production of squash and watermel on to the point of becoming the limiting factor in both crops (Antignus et al., 2003). In 2006, the virus was reported to cause the severe symptoms observed in squash fi el ds in Egypt (Idris et al., 2006). More recently, in 2008, it was detected in all surveyed areas in Jordan and disease incidence reached 95% in squash samples collected from the Dir Alla area (Al-Musa et al., 2008). Detection, and knowledge of the epidemiology and molecular characteristics of this virus is very important  to the local agriculture and to save farmers from total lost.  As a first step in controlling the new cucurbit-infecting begomo viruses, we propose the following: Characterization at the epidemiological and molecular levels of the emerging cucurbit-infecting whitefly-transmitted Begomo virus squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) in production fields in the Palestinian West Bank.