Tag: fire in Israel

TEL AVIV // Israel’s worst-ever wildfire last week may have killed dozens of people and made hundreds of others homeless, but it also appears to be serving as the unlikely trigger for fence-mending talks with Turkey.

Following some two years of deep tensions, made worse following Israel’s raid on a Turkish-flagged ship bound for Gaza last May, officials from the two countries met secretly in Geneva on Sunday to find a way to overcome the crisis in their formerly close ties.

The meeting, whose occurrence was confirmed to reporters by Turkish and Israeli foreign ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, came just days after Turkey sent two aircraft to Israel to help battle a massive forest fire that killed at least 42 people.

Turkey’s help, which arrived in parallel to assistance from other countries, prompted Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to phone his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, and thank him. It was the first conversation between the two men since Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists while storming their boat, the Mavi Marmara, that was aiming to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and provide its residents with aid supplies.

via Fire could spark rapprochement between Istanbul and Tel Aviv.

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has refused to deny or confirm reports that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dispatched a representative to meet with one of the ministry’s undersecretaries to draft an agreement to end the Turkish-Israeli diplomatic crisis.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported over the weekend that Netanyahu sent the representative to the U.N. committee investigating the Gaza flotilla incident after Turkey sent assistance to help Israel put out a fire in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa last week. Quoting a senior Israeli source, the newspaper said the two representatives, Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Yosef Ciechanover from Israel, were expected to meet and draw up a draft agreement to put an end to the crisis.

A spokesman from the Turkish Foreign Ministry contacted by the Daily News, however, said he could neither confirm nor deny the claim by Haaretz.

The relationship between Turkey and Israel was dealt a serious blow in May when Israeli commandoes raided a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship and left nine Turks dead. Turkey has said relations will not return to normal until Israel extends an apology and pays compensation to the victims’ families.

The Carmel fire is Israel’s worst forest fire ever and prompted Turkey to send two firefighting planes and a team of firefighters to help extinguish the flames. The action has broken the ice between the two rival leaders, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu, who made the first contact after months of tensions when he called the Turkish prime minister to extend his country’s thanks.

But Erdoğan said Friday that despite the fire aid and his telephone conversation with Netanyahu, Turkey’s expectations from Tel Aviv remain the same. He reiterated that Turkey expects an apology for the flotilla incident and compensation for the victims. “We don’t confuse this issue with other issues,” he said.

Haaretz quoted sources at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau as saying that contacts were being made with Turkey on the issue, without elaborating further.

The fire diplomacy sparked hope for improvement in the chilly relations between Turkey and Israel. During their telephone conversation, Netanyahu told Erdoğan, “I am sure this event can be a gateway to an improvement of relations between our countries,” diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

The fire diplomacy recalls the “earthquake diplomacy” that helped revive Turkish-Greek ties after the 1999 Marmara earthquake, which killed nearly 17,000 people. Neighboring Greece was one of the first countries to extend a helping hand to Turkish victims. Israeli rescue teams also rushed to Turkey’s aid.

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 marc.champion@wsj.com

via Turkey Helps Fight Israeli Fire – WSJ.com.

Turkey’s decision to send two firefighting planes to Israel to assist in battling the Carmel blaze does not attest to improved ties with the Jewish state, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says.

“This step must not be confused with other problems we have with Israel,” the Turkish PM said. “The ties between us will not improve until they officially apologize and compensate us.” (News agencies)

via Turkey: Aid no sign of improved ties – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Two fire fighting airplanes sent from Turkish capital of Ankara have reached Israel at about 10.00 hours on Friday.

In a written statement issued Friday, the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry said that the two CL-215 type airplanes were sent upon a directive from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to assist in extinguishing the fire at Israeli city of Haifa.

In case of a request (from Israel), five Cross-border Fire Operation Teams are waiting ready in the Turkish provinces of Mersin, Adana and Kahramanmaras to help efforts to extinguish the Haifa fire, the Ministry said.

The Ministry’s statement also had a quote from the Turkish Minister of Environment and Forestry Veysel Eroglu: “Forests are the property of the whole world. We conduct activities to extinguish forest fires in all corners of the world. In the past, we sent assistance to Syria, Georgia, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Greek Cypriot administration, Greece, Russia and Balkan countries to extinguish fires there. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims at the Haifa fire. We hope that the fire in Haifa would be extinguished soon”.

AA

Israeli premier appreciated Turkey’s sending two fire fighting planes to put out the forest fire in Israel.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the phone on Friday, and said that he called to convey his appreciation to Turkey for sending the planes.

The assistance of Turkey was very big and meaningful, Netanyahu told Erdogan.

Erdogan also expressed sorrow over death of 41 Israeli citizens during the fire, and he offered condolences to Israel.

Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to help injured people too.

In a written statement issued Friday, Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry said that the two CL-215 type airplanes were sent upon a directive from Erdogan to assist in extinguishing the fire at Israeli city of Haifa.

Two fire fighting airplanes sent from Turkish capital of Ankara have reached Israel at about 10.00 hours today.

In case of a request (from Israel), five Cross-border Fire Operation Teams are waiting ready in Turkish provinces of Mersin, Adana and Kahramanmaras to help efforts to extinguish the fire.

AA