Israeli forces Thursday detained four Palestinians on suspicion of arson which Israeli authorities suspect caused wildfires to raze through land across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory for the third consecutive day, while Palestinian authorities have agreed to assist Israel in helping put out the fires that have continued to spread.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheich confirmed the detentions in connection to the fires, while Hebrew language media reported that Palestinians from the occupied West Bank were detained in northern Israel. No more information has been released concerning the identities of the detainees or what reasons Israeli authorities have to believe they were behind the fire.
Israeli authorities have claimed that the fire was started by “political arson” against the Israeli state. However, other sources have said the fires were likely caused by a combination of extreme winds and a drought.
Racist apartheid entity is looking for scapegoats and is rounding up Palestinians to blame for its wildfires https://t.co/49ZN6pcVOt
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) November 24, 2016
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Palestinian Civil Defense, Nael al-Azzeh told Ma’an on Thursday that Palestinian authorities agreed to provide support to Israel by sending firefighting crews to help put out fires erupting across Israeli and Palestinian cities in Israel.
In the northern West Bank district of Nablus, a fire broke out in agricultural lands between the villages of Deir Sharaf and Sabastiya, and near the illegal Israeli settlement of Shavei Shomron on Thursday evening. According to the head of the Nablus fire department, Rames al-Dile, the fire broke out in bushes and was pushed towards the trees by winds.
An estimated area of 400 dunams of land (99 acres) in the Ramallah and al-Bireh district were destroyed by the fire. The mass fire ripping through Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory has seen some 60,000 residents forced to evacuate their homes, according to Haaretz.
#Turkey sends planes to help #Israel extinguish wildfires https://t.co/Cj5aWwCJpM pic.twitter.com/n67siA2YVm
— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) November 24, 2016
According to Israeli media outlet Ynet, the fires had initially broke out near the Paz Bridge in the northeastern part of Haifa city, causing vehicles and buildings to catch on fire, and quickly spread towards Jerusalem. Haaretz reported that Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced that the fires were expected to continue until next week as a result of heavy winds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxJGXNA_9A
Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel, Israel’s ultra right Education Minister Naftali Bennett used the occasion to point blame at Palestinians for the devastating fire, saying that “only someone who this land does not belong to would be capable of setting fire to it,” implying both that Palestinians were responsible for the fires and that Palestinians do not have any attachment to the land in Israel, where some 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from during the establishment of Israel in 1948.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
