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Athens (AFP) Dec 8, 2010 Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday said he supported proposals for a regional firefighting unit after 42 people died in Israel's worst-ever blaze last week. "We agree to create the basis for an agreement to tackle natural disasters," Abbas said during a visit to Athens in statements translated into Greek. "We all live in the same area," said the Palestinian Authority leader, who contributed personnel and vehicles to an international force sent to assist Israel that eventually grew to some 300 fire-fighters, pilots and experts. "We are under Israeli occupation...but we felt it very natural to send help," Abbas said. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had earlier praised the Palestinian Authority for sending six vehicles with crews and equipment to help, and added that a meeting would be held in Athens to coordinate the new force. "In consultation with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and Mr Abbas, Greece will take an initiative to organise a regional force to put out fires in the eastern Mediterranean," Papandreou said. "We will invite the competent authorities of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other countries that participated in the effort such as Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Russia," he said. "It is an initiative with particular political symbolism on the possibilities we have in the area when we cooperate to deal with crisis phenomena," said Papandreou, who was foreign minister during a similar diplomatic breakthrough between Greece and historic rival Turkey in 1999. At the time, both countries assisted each other after destructive earthquakes in a move that greatly boosted diplomatic rapprochement efforts. The fire in the Carmel mountains near the northern city of Haifa began on Thursday and raged for three days before it was brought under control. "The international assistance received by Israel last week should serve as a model for further cooperation needed in our area," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying this week. An initial investigation appears to show the blaze was started by accident by teenagers who were having a picnic. burs-jph/im/ss
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Israel police arrest four teens over huge infernoBeit Oren, Israel (AFP) Dec 6, 2010 Israeli police said on Monday they arrested four teenagers suspected of starting a blaze that swept through a forest and killed 42 people in the country's worst fire disaster. "We have made four arrests - two teenagers from the Druze village of Isfiya who were arrested on Saturday, and another two who were questioned on Sunday and released to house arrest," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld ... read more |
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