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- Feb 6, 2010
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Israel has barred a group of Palestinian firefighters from attending a ceremony where At least 10 Palestinians were invited to attend the event in northern Israel, where the four-day fire left 41 people dead and ravaged large swaths of forest.
they were to be honoured for their help in battling a deadly forest fire last week.
But Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament and one of the organisers of the ceremony, said the event was cancelled when three of the Palestinians were refused entry permits to Israel on Tuesday.He said the military had turned the firefighters away on security grounds.
"It's a theatre of the absurd," he told The Associated Press news agency. "This is a regular day-to-day practice of the occupation, and it exposes its ugly face."
The Israeli military said the Palestinians were denied entry due to a "technical mistake". It said permits have now been issued, and it later issued a statement expressing "regret" for the incident.
But Ahmed Rizek, the Palestinian fire chief whose permit arrived too late for him to attend, said entry refusals for no apparent reason were routine for many Palestinians.
Israel bars entry to W Bank firemen - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
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