Did Palestinian Molotov Cocktails Cause Jerusalem Forest Fires?
Crime Scene: Israeli police discovered the body of an Arab youth in the Jerusalem forest. Image by Getty Images
Arson is suspected in several Jerusalem-area forest fires that have destroyed nearly 250 acres of trees.
Israeli firefighters on Saturday battled blazes in the forests of kibbutz Maale HaHamisha near Jerusalem that are believed to have been started by Molotov cocktail firebombs hurled from a nearby Palestinian village. Israel Police have launched an investigation.
Seventeen teams of firefighters, along with four firefighting aircraft, put out the blazes.
The fires follow a blaze on Thursday at the kibbutz and on Friday afternoon into Saturday morning in the woods near Kibbutz Tzora. In both cases, fragments of firebombs were found where the fires were believed to have been started.
No injuries were reported in any of the fires.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
