PA daily: PA sends Israel help to extinguish fire

Text: "Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense helping to put out the fire." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 2010]

“An officer in the Palestinian Civil Defense said that yesterday he supervised a team of twenty, to extinguish the fires which broke out in the Carmel region in northern Israel four days ago. The officer, Ibrahim Ayesh, told Agence France Presse in a telephone conversation from the Carmel region: ‘We are still working to extinguish the fires, since nine this morning, and we have not encountered any problems arising from our being members of the [Palestinian] Civil Defense working among the Israelis.’ Ayesh said, ‘We hope to contribute with the others to extinguishing the fire in the near future.’ It should be noted that a Palestinian team from the Palestinian Civil Defense participated yesterday, from the morning, in activities to fight the fires which broke out in the Carmel region, close to Haifa, four days ago. According to a senior member of the [department of] public relations in the Palestinian Civil Defense, the team entered Israel in the morning, after coordination with the Israeli side, and it comprised 20 men in addition to three fire-engines and a fourth vehicle for logistical support. The senior official said that the participation of the Palestinian team in the activities to extinguish the fires inside Israel ‘was undertaken at the instruction of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, since this is a purely humanitarian act.”
Click to view bulletin

Note: In December 2010, a major forest fire broke out in northern Israel. The PA sent fire-fighters and equipment to help contain the fire, drawing mixed reactions among Palestinians.