Turkey Helps Fight Israeli Fire

By JOSHUA MITNICK in Tel Aviv, Israel and MARC CHAMPION in Istanbul

Turkey, Greece and others came to Israel’s aid Friday in combating a deadly forest fire outside of Haifa, sending firefighting aircraft over what has become the worst fire disaster in Israel’s history.

The fire, which started Thursday, has claimed at least 42 lives and forced the evacuation of 17,000 Israelis. Israeli officials said the fire wouldn’t be brought under control until Saturday afternoon at the earliest.

A deadly blaze in the Carmel mountains in Israel has claimed at least 41 lives and forced 17,000 Israelis to evacuate. WSJ’s Joshua Mitnick reports from Tel Aviv on efforts to control the fire.

The assistance from Turkish aircraft—which has been locked in a bitter diplomatic clash with Israel—was seen as opening a possible door to better ties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for the first time since taking office last year, thanking him and expressing hope the aid delivery would be “an opening toward improving relations.”

Mr. Erdogan, however, speaking to reporters Friday, reiterated Turkey’s demand for an Israeli apology for the deaths of Turkish activists in May. The activists, including eight Turks and a Turkish-American, were killed by Isreali naval commandoes when their ship challenged Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, souring relations with Israel.

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European Pressphoto Agency

People examine the bus in which 40 people died during a forest fire in the Carmel Forest close to Haifa.

Turkish TV pundits on Friday recalled the 1999 breakthrough between Turkey and Greece that followed a Greek decision to send help when its neighbor and historic rival suffered a serious earthquake around the industrial town of Izmit, near Istanbul.

It wasn’t clear Friday if any similar rapprochement would follow what Turkish media were already calling “fire diplomacy” with Israel.

Alon Liel, a former Israeli diplomat who served in Turkey, said the gesture was “of great importance” amid otherwise tense relations.

“It’s the first time that something that happened positively between the countries in maybe two years. Maybe it will speed up the process of an Israeli apology,” he said.

Since the fire’s outbreak Thursday, in the Carmel mountains outside Haifa, Israel has been gripped in a sense of national emergency reserved for military operations and terrorist attacks.

The sense that the country’s fire forces were ill-equipped and understaffed to grapple with the giant brush fire has been a blow to a country which regularly holds exercises simulating emergency response in civilian areas in case of a missile attack.

The fire marked the first time that Israel, which prides itself on dispatching emergency aid to disaster areas abroad, has found itself on the receiving end.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel Television that he didn’t know when the blaze would be out. “The planes did very important work, but its far from being enough,” he said.

As the firefighting efforts continued on Friday, funerals were held for some of the 41 dead, almost all of whom were killed after the fire trapped a bus on Thursday carrying about 50 prison guards and officer cadets to assist in the evacuation of about several hundred prisoners, many of them Palestinians.

Israel’s national parks authority estimated that nearly 10,000 acres of forest had been destroyed in the fire. The Carmel range covers one of Israel’s largest reserves and is a popular tourist attraction.

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European Pressphoto Agency

A major fire in northern Israel spread through thousands of acres of land and resulted in the deaths of at least 41 people.

The Jewish and Arab towns and villages situated amid the forest were evacuated. One neighborhood in Haifa was evacuated.

The plane sorties were expected to be stopped overnight, when the wind could pick up and give renewed momentum to the fire.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that by Friday a total of eight airplanes, three helicopters, three fire trucks and over 150 firemen had arrived from countries including Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria, the U.K. and Russia.

The Haaretz news website said the prime minister had called counterparts from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Norway for more planes. Israel was also offered aid by Jordan and Egypt.

Write to Marc Champion at [email protected]

via Turkey Helps Fight Israeli Fire – WSJ.com.