by Yori Yalon, Nitzi Yakov, Noam Dvir and Israel Hayom Staff
Village of Abu Ghosh hosts 150 people from neighboring Nataf • Youth movements in country's north collect donations, host activities to ease tensions among children • Kfar Etzion Field School offers accommodation to anyone evacuated because of the fires.
Teenage volunteers assist
with firefighting efforts in Zikhron Yaakov
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Photo credit: AP  |
As multiple fires continue to burn and thousands of people are evacuated, Israelis across the country are coming together to help those in need.
Residents of the Arab village of Shaab invited
their neighbors in Gilon and Tzurit affected by the fire to stay with
them. And in Abu Ghosh, local council head Issa Jaber offered his
community's help to neighboring Nataf as soon as he learned of the fires
and its evacuation.
"We set up a nursery school in our community
center, we hosted a day of activities for the children and set up all
the additional halls in the community center. One hundred and fifty
people from Nataf came here, including children and animals. It's the
least we could do for our neighbors," Jaber said.
But the generosity of the residents of Abu
Ghosh did not end there. When local restaurant owners heard their
neighbors would be staying in their village, they sent food and drinks
to the community center, and volunteers set the tables for their guests.
Rami Matan, the head of the Nataf Council, said, "I have never seen
anything like it in all my life. Issa told me he will do everything for
us." Matan called the experience "very moving."
Farther north, around 15 employees of mobile
network operator firm Pelephone -- including engineers, technicians,
contractors and managers -- set up a mobile cellular station in the
Zikhron Yaakov area, where fires also continue to rage. The station is
meant to assist security forces and police as they work to manage the
situation there.
Also in Zikhron Yaakov, members of the city's
Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed youth movement were collecting donations and
hosting activities for young people. In regional schools, youth group
leaders hosted educational and recreational activities for children of
all ages and operated crafting stations to ease tensions among students.
In addition, the youth movement opened one of its centers to the
general public, to allow people to donate toys, clothes and electric
appliances to families in need.
The National Student and Youth Council
announced an initiative to put evacuated families in touch with families
interested in hosting them. As of Wednesday night, dozens of people
have contacted the council to help.
Yaron Rozenthal, head of the Kfar Etzion Field School in
Gush Etzion, is reaching out on social media to families evacuated from
their homes in Zikhron Yaakov and inviting them to stay at the new
guesthouses at the field school. Rozenthal said the fire and the
evacuations "obligate us to show solidarity and provide assistance."
Yori Yalon, Nitzi Yakov, Noam Dvir and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=38267
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