国际英语新闻：As massive fire is contained, Israeli political feuding begins over who to blame

JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- As local forces, joined by international fire-fighting crews, approached extinguishing a wildfire which has raged through a forest in northern Israel since Thursday, accusations over who is to blame heated up on Sunday, with the Prime Minister's Office claiming it inquired about purchasing fire-fighting aircraft four months ago.

After more than three days' arduous battle, Israeli firefighting authority announced Sunday afternoon that it had fully contained the inferno, according to local news service Ynet.

The brushfire, considered the worst natural disaster in Israel' s history, has claimed 42 lives and forced the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes. Approximately 50 square km of forest land and thousands of trees were consumed alongside severe damages to homes and infrastructure.

A burnt field is seen near Isfiya, on Mount Carmel, near Haifa, north Israel, Dec. 5, 2010. After more than three days' arduous battle, Israeli firefighting authority announced Sunday afternoon that it had fully contained the inferno, according to local news service Ynet.

Much of the blaming for the poor handling of the fire is directed at Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose ministry is directly responsible for the country's fire-fighting services.

The Ometz "good governance" watchdog called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Yishai due to his "ministerial responsibility for the catastrophe," The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

Yishai rebuffed the accusations against him, demanding on Friday to set up a governmental commission of inquiry to probe the fire, which required an emergency call for help to nearly a dozen countries which dispatched about 30 fire-fighting craft to Israel.

In the course of an emergency cabinet meeting convened on Friday, Yishai cited long years of neglect that gave way to the disaster, saying that in 2001, Ariel Sharon's government voted to cancel aerial support for firefighting.

In an effort to ward off the harsh criticism, the Interior Ministry spokesman over the weekend began releasing to local media copies of letters issued by Yishai in the past year, in which he warned about the deficiencies of the fire-fighting services in terms of personnel and equipment, all of which were unheeded.

"I said months ago that we need to plan for an emergency situation. Nobody ever examined a scenario of such a fire," Yishai was quoted as saying on Friday by the Post.

The interior minister claimed he had demanded to increase the budget allocated for the national fire-fighting services, eventually receiving less than 20 percent that what he had asked for.