Israel arrests Palestinians for alleged wildfire links

By Anees Barghouti

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli police on Friday arrested 12 Palestinians suspected of involvement with a spate of wildfires that tore across the country this week, according to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

Israeli officials have been quoted by local media as saying that at least some of the fires were believed to have been the result of arson.

Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab Joint List in the Knesset (Israel's parliament), voiced outraged over the accusations, comparing them to the so-called "blood libel" made against Jews in the past.

The allegations, Odeh told Israeli Radio, "remind me of the anti-Semitism seen in Europe in the past, when they used to blame the Jewish people".

"I myself am from Haifa and I don’t want to see it on fire," he said.

Tens of thousands of Israelis, meanwhile, have been allowed to return to their homes after more than 65,000 were evacuated earlier this week from the northern city of Haifa.

According to official figures, 40 homes were completely destroyed -- and hundreds more partially damaged -- by the fires.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that both Egypt and Jordan had offered to help the Israeli authorities extinguish the fires.

Egypt is expected to send two helicopters, while Jordan has said it would send several firefighting crews.

On Thursday, Turkey sent specialized planes to Israel to help put out the fires, while Greece, Croatia, Italy, the Greek Cypriot administration and Russia have also offered to send fire-fighting aircraft.

Four Palestinian firefighting crews have also been deployed in Haifa to help extinguish the blazes.