December 27, 2011 – New York – AJC announced today that work on the ground will soon begin on a project to rehabilitate the Carmel forests destroyed by a deadly wildfire a year ago.

A $100,000 donation from AJC’s Israel Emergency Assistance Fund will help restore ancient farming terraces on Mt. Carmel, near Haifa, to rehabilitate the millenniums-old environment and allow vegetation to re-grow naturally.

"Our partners at the Jewish National Fund assessed the situation on the ground and made a scientific determination that the best way to handle the reforestation is to let the area rejuvenate naturally without organized replanting," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

"Rehabilitating the ancient environment of Mt. Carmel and seeing its forest grow again from the ashes will be a timeless tribute to the 42 Israeli police officers killed in the wildfire," he said. The officers died after their bus was engulfed by flames as they were rushing to help evacuate a prison near the fire.

Mt. Carmel is a site of ancient farming terraces – level plots supported by walls at the edge, in a traditional technique for farming on hilly terrain. Terrace farming in the region became widespread in the Iron Age, over 3,000 years ago. Many of the terraces in Israel are unique, and a number of them have been proposed to UNESCO as world heritage sites.

Many countries provided life-saving assistance to Israel in during the fire, and will be commemorated at a memorial site. These countries include Azerbaijan, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Jordan, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the U.S.

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