Israeli daily, Haaretz, has reported that Israel has cancelled its ceremony to honour the Palestinian firefighters that participated in the global assistance to the State of Israel, following the fire that devastated the Haifa/ Mt. Carmel region, due to Israel refusing to issue entry permits for all firefighters.Entry permits were granted for seven of the ten Palestinian Authority firefighters involved in the humanitarian assistance, despite all being cleared to enter during the operation.
Arab Member of Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, head of the Ta’al Party and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset stated that the incident is ‘not just a march of folly or a theater of the absurd but stupidity and the normative lordly attitude of the occupation regime.. This is a complete shame.’
The fire ravaged the Mount Carmel region, destroying forests, in the three days it burned and leaving forty three Israelis dead.
