Israeli police arrested 13 people on Friday on suspicion of arson, authorities said, after massive wildfires tore through central and northern Israel, a conflagration that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded as "terrorism". He said the arson was carried out by "elements with great hostility toward Israel." Erdan said those arrested were "minorities", an allusion to either Arab Israeli citizens or Palestinians. But Ayman Odeh, a leading Israeli Arab politician from Haifa, rejected the suggestion Arabs were responsible for arson attacks and accused the Israeli government of taking advantage of the situation to incite against the Arab minority. Palestinians seek an independent state in territories including the West Bank that Israel took in a 1967 war.

Source: Egypt Independent November 26, 2016 10:01 UTC