Israel offers Chile help to reforest national park
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Xinhua, January 4, 2012
Israel on Tuesday offered Chile assistance in restoring a national park damaged by a forest fire on Dec. 27.
Israel is offering to send a mission of experts in forestry to help Chile recover the blackened area, a statement issued by the Israeli foreign ministry said, adding that Israel also offered tree seedlings to the park and condolences on the devastating fire.
Rotem Singer, a visiting Israeli hiker to the National Park Torres del Paine in Patagonia, has denied the charges of accidentally starting the fire, which raced across some 12,700 hectare meters of the 240,000-hectare park. If convicted, Singer could be facing up to two months in a Chilean jail, and a fine up to 300 U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials stressed that Israel would not pay Chile monetary compensation for the damages.
"The government does not have to compensate for the private citizens who are responsible for their own actions," a ministry official told Xinhua.
"We should wait for the court's resolution. It's not proven yet that Singer did it; but whatever the outcome is, the actions of an individual should not have any weight on the diplomatic relations between the two countries," the official said.
"Israel expresses its solidarity with the Chilean people in its sorrow for the damage to an exceptional natural patrimony in the National Park Torres del Paine," the statement read.
"Israel has also experienced a similar disaster last year in the Carmel forests, and that painful memory enhances our sense of common destiny," the ministry said, referring to a wildfire that killed 44 people.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Monday that the blaze was partially controlled but half of the park had been scorched.
Pinera said four of the six fire areas were under control, but there is still a lot of work to do to completely control the situation.
More than half of the tourist destination has been engulfed in fire, which occurred in a zone which is very difficult to approach due to complicated topography and strong winds, Pinera said. Over 750 people were working to contain the fire, supported by airplanes and helicopters.
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