Jerusalem hills wildfires under control after nearly 30 hours; no major injuries
PM blames conflagration on Palestinian incitement, but fire officials said to attribute fire to hiker negligence; president warns of climate change’s effects
The Fire and Rescue Service said Thursday evening that firefighters had gained control of the conflagrations that had ravaged the Jerusalem hills for close to 30 hours.
The announcement came hours after roads and train lines were reopened and evacuees from the area were permitted to return to their homes.
The fire service said firefighters would continue their efforts over the coming hours, albeit at a lower intensity than before, to prevent new fires from cropping up, and that a probe would be opened into the cause of the fire, though to be among the largest in Israel’s history.
The Jewish National Fund said the blaze, which forced the cancellation of most Independence Day celebrations Wednesday night, destroyed around 20,000 dunams (5,000 acres) of land, out of which some 13,000 dunams (3,000 acres) were forest, including roughly 70% of the West Bank’s Canada Park. The scale of destruction was similar to that of the 2010 Carmel fire, though that fire killed 44 people, while the Jerusalem hills fire did not cause serious injuries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed the fire to Palestinian arson, and wrongly claimed 18 people had been arrested in connection with it. Police have said only three suspects have been arrested so far, and Hebrew media reported that a preliminary assessment by the fire service indicated that the blazes were likely caused in the main by negligent hikers, not arson.
Channel 13 reported that assessment, saying investigators had found that a higher-than-average number of hikers had passed through the Mesilat Zion area, where the fire began, in the hours leading up to it on Wednesday. At the same time, it said the fire service suspects additional fires that broke out later in the day may have been arson attacks.
In response to the reports, the Fire and Rescue Service said it had yet to determine what had caused the fires, as the investigation is still in the preliminary stages.
Meanwhile, President Isaac Herzog said in an Independence Day event at his Jerusalem residence Thursday that the fires were “part of the climate crisis, which must not be ignored.”
“It requires us to prepare for serious and significant challenges and to make decisions – including appropriate legislation,” said Herzog, thanking firefighters for “risking their lives… to save lives and contain the great fire.”
As the fires spread, there were some calls by Palestinians on social media to go out and start further blazes. Netanyahu, whose government was accused in the wake of the fire of ignoring early warnings, said Thursday that the fire shows “our neighbors, who claim they love this land, talk about burning the land.”
Speaking at the annual Independence Day Bible Competition in Jerusalem in the morning, Netanyahu wrongfully claimed 18 people were arrested in connection with the fire.
In an Instagram video posted shortly afterward, the premier repeated the figure and said there was a “very serious suspicion” that the fire was caused by arson following incitement on social media.
“If you love this land, why are you burning it?” said Netanyahu. “This is our land, we take care of it.”
Police said just three people had been detained.
An unconfirmed report by Channel 12 said Netanyahu may have been confused after having been told by police of 18 cases of incitement to arson on social media.
According to a statement by police shortly after noon Thursday, two detainees were residents of East Jerusalem: a 19-year-old detained Thursday for writing on social media that God should fan the flames as revenge for Israel’s “destruction of Muslim lands”; and a 50-year-old detained Wednesday for allegedly lighting a fire in an open field in south Jerusalem. It was unclear what the third detainee was accused of.
The statement said the court had granted the police’s request to extend the arrest of the 50-year-old until Sunday.
The Times of Israel Community.