World

FOREST FIRE

Smoky
Aftermath

After. Israel's deadly fire, mourning,
vows to rebuild and finger pointing.

The fire in the Carmel Mountains raged for four days.

Marcy Oster
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

F

ollowing the deadliest fire in
Israel's history, Israelis this week
began the task of burying the
dead, cleaning up and figuring out what
exactly went wrong — and who is to
blame.
Even before the blaze in the Carmel
Mountains near Haifa came under
control Sunday afternoon, Israelis were
asking why the country wasn't better
prepared for a wildfire of this magni-
tude. In all, 42 people were killed, about

250 homes were destroyed or severely
damaged, 17,000 people were forced to
evacuate, more than 12,000 acres were
burned and an estimated 5 million trees
were lost.
"The Carmel disaster highlights the
outrageous gaps in Israel's strategic and
day-to-day readiness," the editorialists
at Haaretz wrote Sunday while echoing
a call for a state commission of inquiry
to examine who bears responsibility for
the failures of the Israeli fire service.
"What's better to spend the State of
Israel's money on, firefighting aircraft or
an F-15 fighter jet?" wrote Eitan Haber,
a former Rabin administration official
and now a columnist for Ynet.

A father and son look at their destroyed house in Ein Hod, near Haifa.

The damage to the area of the Carmel
Forest in northern Israel was estimated
at about $75 million, including damage
to towns and kibbutzim, destroyed for-
ests and damaged roads.
Yemin Orde, an aliyah youth village
founded in 1953 that has served as a
home and school to thousands of immi-
grant youths, most recently Ethiopians
and Russians, was severely burned. In
the artists' village of Ein Hod, 10 houses
and an art gallery were destroyed.
On Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet
approved a $16.5 million aid package to
assist damaged communities; and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered
that each person whose home suffered
severe fire damage be given an immedi-
ate aid disbursement of $700.
Calls came from many quarters for
the resignation of Interior Minister Eli
Yishai, whose ministry is responsible for
the state's firefighting forces. Yishai also
is accused of refusing fire truck dona-
tions from the International Fellowship
of Christians and Jews.
Yishai said his ministry was not
funded well enough to purchase needed
equipment — in 2001, he noted, Ariel
Sharon's government voted to eliminate
air support for firefighting — and told
Israel Radio that he was a target because
of his Sephardi heritage.
Israel has 16 firefighters per 100,000
residents. By contrast, the United
States, Japan and Greece have five to
seven times that number per capita,
the Associated Press reported. In total,
Israel has 1,400 firefighters.

Aftermath on page 30

Local
Response

Detroiters here
and in Israel react
to the tragedy.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

T

he entire country has
become one community:'
wrote Nitzana York of West
Bloomfield in an electronic message
from Haifa. York grew up in Haifa and
attended camp and hiked in the nearby
Carmel Forest that was devastated by
fire last weekend. She is there with her
daughter, Orian, following the death of
her mother who had been ill.
"At first, we didn't fully understand
the magnitude of this beast',' she wrote.
"Also, we weren't sure if it was an act of
terrorism or what else could happen.
The entire country is following the TV
reports as though it is a time of war:'
As the realization of the fire threat
spread, "everybody began to come
together and offer help; families
opened their doors to host those who
were displaced from or lost their
homes. On the radio, I heard an Arab
citizen from Ein Chud thanking all of
Israel. Both Jewish and Arab Israelis

Response on page 30

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December 9 • 2010

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