Israeli police make arrests over wildfires

Officials blame political motives for blaze

• Israeli police said Friday that at least 22 people were in custody on suspicion of starting a series of huge fires that has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and left widespread damage across the country.

Officials and politicians said that at least half of the fires, which raged from the Jerusalem area to the north of the country, had been started intentionally for nationalist reasons. They were quick to label it a new form of terrorism. Police have not disclosed the identities of the suspects arrested so far.

Firefighters on Friday reined in a blaze that had spread across the country’s third-largest city of Haifa and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, but continued to battle more than a dozen other fires around the country for the fourth day in a row.

The more than 60,000 Israelis evacuated began returning to their charred homes to assess the damage as police and firefighting units remained heavily deployed in the Haifa area for fear that the fires could be reignited due to the dry, windy weather.

Though no deaths or serious injuries have been reported, several dozen people have been hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Hundreds of homes were damaged and in a rare move, Israel called up military reservists to join overstretched police and firefighters and made use of an international fleet of firefighting aircraft sent by several countries.

Israel has been on edge during more than a year of Palestinian attacks — mostly stabbings — that have tapered off but not completely halted in recent months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Palestinian incitement for fuelling those attacks and echoed the charge, pointing to celebrations in some Arab circles over the fires. Netanyahu said investigators are working overtime to apprehend anyone involved in setting off fires.

In a news conference Thursday night, Netanyahu said, “Any arson or incitement to arson is terrorism. Whoever tries to burn parts of the State of Israel will be punished.”

Israeli-Arab politicians said that the government was taking advantage of situation to incite against Arabs and the Palestinians.

AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP / GETTY IMAGES A firefighter inspects damage in Beit Meir, a village in central Israel where hundreds were evacuated following the spread of wildfires this week. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze that left damage across the country.