Palestinian firemen
Photo: AFP
Palestinian firemen snubbed
Palestinian team that fought Carmel fire denied entry into Israel; MK Tibi slams 'disgrace'
The Palestinian firefighting team that helped fight the Carmel fire last week did not receive a permit to enter Israel Tuesday for a ceremony in its honor in northern Israel.
Palestinian firefighting chief, General Ahmed Razik, told Ynet: "We don't know the reason why permits were not issued for the Palestinian firemen. We have no idea about the intention behind this story; I think there's a certain measure of negligence here."
Officials said the firemen were denied entry as result of a "technical mishap" in coordinating the permits with the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria.
Arab Help
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He added that he had no information about security reasons that may have prevented the permits from being approved.
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."
Hassan Shaalan and Roni Sofer contributed to the story
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