by Raed Omari AMMAN – The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change, threatening Jordan’s development, a senior development economist has warned. Delivering a public lecture on Sunday, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute of Columbia University, highlighted recent indicators of ecosystem change and its consequences […]

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AMMAN – His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday issued instructions to send the necessary equipment to assist in extinguishing fires that broke out in various forest areas in Lebanon, a Royal Court statement said. The King issued the instructions after receiving a telephone call from Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, asking for help to put […]

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AMMAN/ISFIYA, Israel (Agencies) –– Jordan’s civil defence teams have joined firefighters from several countries that rushed to help Israel fight a huge forest fire. The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted an official source as saying Saturday that the government received an official request from the Israeli government a day earlier to take part in efforts […]

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Ismail Haniyeh says Allah is punishing Israelis for ‘what they did,’ during emergency prayers in Gaza City to ask for rain. The de-facto Palestinian prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday that the massive forest fires in northern Israel served as a “strike from Allah [God].” Commenting on the fires in Israel, which killed […]

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By YAAKOV KATZ 12/05/2010 03:04 Israel can expect devastation, not only in its cities, but in its forests as well, in a future war with Hamas and Hizbullah. Imagine a future war with Hizbullah and Hamas. If we believe the recent predictions of outgoing head of Military Intelligence Maj.- Gen. Amos Yadlin, Israel will face […]

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The next disaster: a massive toxic spill. By Zafrir Rinat The Environmental Protection Ministry is ill-prepared to deal with an accident at an industrial plant holding hazardous materials, Minister Gilad Erdan acknowledged yesterday. It is his ministry that is responsible for directives dealing with the storage of hazardous materials, but as ministry professionals have long […]

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There is a disturbing phenomenon of homegrown terrorism that has contaminated a small but violent minority. One of the few positive developments to emerge in the wake of Israel’s worst-ever inferno has been the tremendous outpouring of international aid, including from the Muslim world. Both Egypt and Jordan have reached out, sending firefighters and equipment. […]

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Speaking at the funeral of a teenage fire-fighting volunteer, President says that while Israel missed firefighting equipment, it made up for that lack with courage and a volunteering spirit. The worst wildfire in Israel’s history teaches Israelis that Jews and Arabs share the same fate, President Shimon Peres said on Sunday while attending the funeral […]

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Expected light rain comes after what many consider as Israel’s driest autumn in recorded history. By Asaf Shtull-Trauring A slight sign of optimism and hope in the fight against the wildfire that has been ravaging Israel’s north since Thursday is expected later Sunday, as forecasts say rain is expected to fall on large parts of […]

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Hariri presides over emergency meeting to discuss management of similar crises BEIRUT: Showers that poured heavily Monday morning after a month of drought helped contain fires that raged across Lebanon over the weekend. Rains put out a major fire in the Jbeil town of Fitri, which came over swathes of woodland and threatened residences. The […]

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BEIT OREN, Israel (AFP) — A fine rain fell Monday morning on the forests of Mount Carmel, near the northern Israel city of Haifa, where a the country’s worst forest fire raged for four days, killing 42 people. Around five millimetres of rain had already fallen on the area, dampening the ground, and another 10 […]

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Operations of firefighting aircraft have been called off until Saturday morning, leaving ground crews with the task of battling the blaze overnight. By Yaniv Kubovich, Fadi Eyadat and Anshel Pfeffer The wildfire in the Carmel hills continued to spread on Friday evening, approaching Haifa University, the Denya neighborhood of Haifa and the Carmel Forest Hotel […]

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By YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JPOST.COM STAFF Fire crews fighting blaze’s spread towards Denya neighborhood of Haifa; 8,600 acres scorched in Carmel; planes forced to stop flying for the night; forest fires burn in lower Galilee near Tal-El, Kfar Mashad. Over 8,600 acres (35,000 dunams) had burned in the Carmel fire, as of Friday evening. Firefighters […]

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PM thanks Erdogan for airplanes to battle Carmel fire, praises Israeli rescue workers; firefighting plane lands from Russia. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday evening carried out telephone conversations with leaders from Norway, Finland, Belgium, Holland and Germany in an attempt to secure additional firefighting planes. A firefighting plane landed in Israel from Russia to […]

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The lives of hundreds of rare animals are threatened as flames spread towards the Hai-Bar nature reserve. By Zafrir Rinat The Hai-Bar nature reserve is again under threat from the wildfire that is blazing in the Carmel hills. Earlier Friday, the nature reserve appeared to be safe after firefighters had contained the blaze in the […]

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Friday, December 03, 2010 Rami Amichai HAIFA, Israel: A huge fire swept through a forest in northern Israel Thursday, killing up to 40 people, many of them prison guards who were trapped in a bus trying to flee the flames, security services said. Israel called on Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Russia to send aircraft to […]

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NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian firefighters are aiding efforts to control a forest fire which has spread across northern Israel, Palestinian civil defense officials said. The blaze, which has killed at least 41 people and devastated more than 10,000 acres of land, was still burning out of control 24 hours after it started in the Carmel […]

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