Instead of Honor Ceremony, Israel Bars Entry to West Bank Firemen

hey guys, seriously, thanx for all your help. we appreciate your willingness to put your safety on the line in order to help us put out the fires.
now that the fires are out and we no longer have a need for you, kindly get back in your area.

Instead of Honor Ceremony, Israel Bars Entry to West Bank

al jazeera eng. link

Israel bars entry to W Bank firemen Ceremony to honour firefighters cancelled after Israel denies entry permits to Palestinians who helped battle blaze. Last Modified: 14 Dec 2010 20:31 GMT Email Article Email Article Print Article Print Article Share article Share Article Send Feedback Send Feedback The fire left at least 41 people dead and destroyed dozens of homes in Israel's north [EPA] Israel has barred a group of Palestinian firefighters from attending a ceremony where they were to be honoured for their help in battling a deadly forest fire last week. At least 10 Palestinians were invited to attend the event in northern Israel, where the four-day fire left 41 people dead and ravaged large swaths of forest. But Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament and one of the organisers of the ceremony, said the event was cancelled when three of the Palestinians were refused entry permits to Israel on Tuesday. He said the military had turned the firefighters away on security grounds. "It's a theatre of the absurd," he told The Associated Press news agency. "This is a regular day-to-day practice of the occupation, and it exposes its ugly face." 'Technical mistake' The Israeli military said the Palestinians were denied entry due to a "technical mistake". It said permits have now been issued, and it later issued a statement expressing "regret" for the incident. But Ahmed Rizek, the Palestinian fire chief whose permit arrived too late for him to attend, said entry refusals for no apparent reason were routine for many Palestinians. He said he and his staff were surprised to learn when they arrived at the checkpoint that not all of the men would be granted entry into Israel. Palestinians are required to have permits to enter Israel from the West Bank, and many complain that Israeli approval or rejection can be arbitrary. Houses destroyed About 20 Palestinian firefighters joined the international effort to battle the fire that swept through the Carmel forest in northern Israel. Dozens of nations had sent firefighting equipment and helped in the effort to put out the fire, which in addition to causing casualties, scorched 50 square kilometres of woodland, destroyed millions of trees, and an estimated dozens of homes. Israel has admitted it was woefully underprepared, and politicians have called for officials to resign for failing to quickly quell the fire. Two teenagers from the village of Isfiya have been arrested on suspicion of starting the blaze "through negligence" by leaving behind burning embers after a family picnic.

reply to post by rubbertramp


Leave it to Al jazeera to misinterpret the facts in an attempt to portray a situation as something it was not. 7 of the 10 palestinian firefighters were approved entry. The other 3 were not because of a screwup that Israeli immidiately admitted to. The ceremony was postponed by Israel so they could get all of the Palestinian Firsefighters into Israel. The error cited was the lack of the Firefighting ID numbers for those 3 palestinian firefighters.

Israel appologized, postponed the ceremony so these Firefighters could attend and so all of them could be thanked and honored by Israel.

Source

Israeli officials on Tuesday canceled a ceremony planned to honor the Palestinian firemen who assisted in battling the Carmel fire last week, after a number of crew members were refused permits to cross the border.

and

The Israel Defense Forces said that the permits were denied due to a bureaucratic mistake, explaining that the list of names was processed without the firefighters' identification numbers attached.

The army said it was now working on getting the honorees the correct permits.

reply to post by Xcathdra


You really believe that "technical mistake" garbage?

Israelis are notorious for arbitrarily disallowing Palestinians to leave Gaza. Israel border officials saw the firemen as regular Palestinians, and treated them as they always do. Do you think Israel would've said or done anything about this if the barring incident was not reported to the international media?

Yes, "technical mistake". Just like how the IDF bulldozer driver "didn't see" Rachel Corrie after he ran her over, stopped, and reversed over her body, or how the video of this incident was "accidently" destroyed by the Israeli authorities tasked with investigating the situation

How predictable and bureaucratic No one knows what the other hand is doing.

At least you can not blame them for spending the almighty dollar on something they did not do

If and when this event will take place at a later date, and one of them gets hurt or sick, and is admitted to an Israeli hospital, it's only with the ulterior motive of cutting out his organs. Right

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

You really believe that "technical mistake" garbage?

Israelis are notorious for arbitrarily disallowing Palestinians to leave Gaza. Israel border officials saw the firemen as regular Palestinians, and treated them as they always do. Do you think Israel would've said or done anything about this if the barring incident was not reported to the international media?

Yes, "technical mistake". Just like how the IDF bulldozer driver "didn't see" Rachel Corrie after he ran her over, stopped, and reversed over her body, or how the video of this incident was "accidently" destroyed by the Israeli authorities tasked with investigating the situation

Save your propoganda for another thread will you please. I could care less about what happened to the American who stood in front of a bulldozer and was run over. Its been debated to death and has nothing at all to do with this, in addition to occuring many years ago (BTW this is hypocritical on your part, where you demand the US not support Israel and butt out of the middle east, except when the result makes Israel look bad, then I notice you guys have no issues using it as propoganda for your agendas on this forum).

7 of the firefighters were allowed to cross. Only 3 were not because of the missing ID number. The Israelis corrcted it and postponed the ceremony so the Palestinians could attened and be thanked and honored for their assistance.

I know this type of behavior from Israel towards Palestinians flies in the face of the one sided Israel is evil argument you and Ozzzy like to push. Stick to the story at hand, which has been corrected.

Even the commander of the Palestinian Firefighters stated he felt they made an unintentional mistake. Even Palestinians dont agree wtih your assertions.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


Source

Israeli officials on Tuesday canceled a ceremony planned to honor the Palestinian firemen who assisted in battling the Carmel fire last week, after a number of crew members were refused permits to cross the border.

Palestinian Fire Services Commander Ahmed Rizik said that he and his staff were surprised to learn when they arrived at the checkpoint that only seven out of the 10 fireman would be granted entry into Israel, although all of them had been allowed in at the time of the disaster.

The Israel Defense Forces said that the permits were denied due to a bureaucratic mistake, explaining that the list of names was processed without the firefighters' identification numbers attached.

The army said it was now working on getting the honorees the correct permits.

Yup,they are fxiing the mistake they made and admitted to. The ceremony was canceled until they could get all of the Palestinian Firefighters who assisted to the ceremony thanking them for their help.

Yahooo News
al arabya
Boston.com

Eleven Palestinians were invited to attend the event in northern Israel, where the fire raged earlier this month.

Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli Arab lawmaker who helped organize the event, said the fete was called off when three of the Palestinians were refused entry.

Ynet news

Responding to the embarrassing incident, Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi slammed what he called "a disgrace." Tibi, who organized the ceremony, decided to postpone it to another date.

Civil Administration officials said they immediately approved the firemen's request to enter Israel, yet as a result of a technical failure the ceremony was put off.

"The technical mishap was corrected immediately after it became known," one official said. Following the incident, General Razik was summoned for a meeting at the Civil Administration chief's office in order to discuss the issue.

Despite the regrettable mishap, Razik stressed that the incident "would not prevent Palestinian firefighters from continuing to offer aid in various disasters, whether they take place in Israel or elsewhere."

AP Article

"They (the military) told me there is a mistake and that they didn't mean it," Rizek said. "I am not upset. I can understand there is something wrong. I don't know what it is, but I don't think they meant it."

Rizek attended a ceremony last week in Jerusalem at the official residence of Israel's president in honor of foreign firefighters who helped put out the blaze.

Here is some more info for you....

reply to post by Xcathdra


That's nice and all... but why do Palestinians even have identification numbers and why do they need ID# to travel within their own country?

Din't the Nazis ID their "inferior" subjects and control their movements? Didn't the Soviets issue their people with documents that were required to pass through checkpoints all the time? I thought this was a thing of the past

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

That's nice and all... but why do Palestinians even have identification numbers and why do they need ID# to travel within their own country?

Din't the Nazis ID their "inferior" subjects and control their movements? Didn't the Soviets issue their people with documents that were required to pass through checkpoints all the time? I thought this was a thing of the past

You have an identification number as well, regardless of country you live in. DL number, Passport Number, Social security number, license plate number, job identification number, tax id number. So stop with the attempt to equate Israel with the Nazis. All you do is show your ignorance when trying to make that BS argument.

They are travelling from the West bank into Israel. So yeah, contrary to the argument you are trying to make, they were entering Israel from the Israeli controlled Jordanian west bank.

The error was noticed and rectified. The ceremony was rescheduled so ISrael could thank these guys.