30 Years to Fully Recover From Israel Fires - Israel Today

30 Years to Fully Recover From Israel Fires

Tuesday, November 29, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

Israeli experts lamented that it could take as much as 30 years to fully recover from the wave of fires that ravaged the country over the past two weeks.

While hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed by the flames (mostly in the Haifa and Jerusalem areas) huge tracts of forests, including entire nature reserves, were decimated.

Current estimates are that well over 35,000 acres of forest were destroyed, and much of the wildlife living there was killed.

“While some of the foxes and hyenas and other animals managed to flee the fires, others were not so lucky. Snakes and turtles for example, did not survive,” Uri Naveh, head of the Nature and Parks Authority Jerusalem District, told Israel’s Ynet news portal.

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Some Arabs Rejoice Over Israel Fires, Others Shelter Victims - Israel Today

Some Arabs Rejoice Over Israel Fires, Others Shelter Victims

Friday, November 25, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

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Israeli Arabs

While many Arabs in the Palestinian Authority and across the Middle East celebrated the wildfires currently ravaging Israel, a number of Arab municipalities offered to shelter victims being forced by the flames to evacuate their homes.

The hashtag #israelisburning is now trending on Arabic-language social media, with many Palestinians and those in neighboring countries viewing the fires as divine retribution against Israel.

Video clips of joyous celebrations during which Allah is thanked for punishing the Jews have gone viral in recent days.

In reality, Israeli officials believe many, if not most, of the fires were set by terrorist arsonists. Already 12 suspects have been arrested, and many more are being questioned.

But while many Arabs further afield are pleased by the fiery destruction, most of those living closer to the blazes realize they are in the same boat as their Jewish countrymen, and are looking to help.

Several of the larger Arab municipalities on Thursday notified the government and the municipalities of those cities most endangered, like Haifa, that their towns were open to shelter both Jews and Arabs forced to evacuate their homes.

More than 75,000 Israelis have had to flee their homes as firefighters struggle to contain the fires. At one point, more than 200 fires were burning simultaneously. At least 100 homes have already been destroyed.

The Palestinian Authority also dispatched some of its firefighting teams to help the Israelis. They will join teams that have already arrived from Russia, Turkey, Greece and Croatia. On Thursday night it was reported that the US would send its supertanker firefighting plane to battle the inferno.

But worrying to many Israelis is that if indeed the fires represent a new form of Muslim terror, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to fully bring an end to the blazes without a tremendous amount of rainfall. And all predictions are that this will be a very dry winter.

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