Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Central European News

Israeli and Palestinian firefighters have taken part in a joint training exercise to learn how to save lives together.

The exercises took place at the Rishon LeZion Firefighting and Rescue College in the city of Rishon LeZion in the Israeli region of Gush Dan.

The firefighters participated in “scenarios that simulate real-life situations” and learned “new methods to deal with fires in buildings and cars and ways to quickly rescue injured people in blocked areas”, according to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), the MoD branch responsible for liaising with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, reports said that the Israeli firefighters have learned to speak Arabic which they practiced during the training exercises.

To strengthen their relationship, the commander of the Palestinian Civil Protection met with the commissioner of the Israeli Health and Rescue Authority to discuss firefighting techniques, future collaborations and the importance of the two governments working together.

Civilian Officer Lt. Col. Samir said: “The cooperation between Israeli firefighters and Palestinian firefighters is significant within the discipline.

“Due to the mix of forces, we have the power to work collectively to enhance the talents and the proficiency of each Israeli and Palestinian firefighters alike.

“This collaboration has yielded fruit prior to now and continues to carry optimistic outcomes each time. Subsequently, we are going to proceed to work with a view to strengthen and improve it, with a clear aim – to avoid collectively wasting human lives.”

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