The Israeli authorities on Wednesday demolished all the tents and structures in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Araqib in the Negev desert for the 190th consecutive time displacing its residents.
According to local sources Israeli police forces and employees from the Bedouin development authority — which is responsible for such demolitions — stormed the village and wreaked havoc on everything.
Consequently dozens of Bedouin citizens including children women and elderlies have become homeless again and will suffer from the harsh weather and scorching heat of the desert for a while before they could have new makeshift homes again.
Araqib residents live in a constant state of fear because they expect the demolition of their village at any moment after they manage to rebuild their homes again.
However such Israeli arbitrary criminal and inhumane policy of demolition uprooting and displacement will only increase the residents’ resolve and adherence to their land and village even if Israel demolishes it thousands of times.
Al-Araqib is one of several Bedouin villages in the Negev desert which are “unrecognized” by Israel.
The demolition of al-Araqib and other villages in the Negev is a systematic Israeli policy aimed at expelling the native population from the Negev and transferring them to government-zoned areas to pave the way to expand and build settlements for Jewish communities.
In a separate incident Israeli bulldozers on the same day demolished Palestinian homes and structures in Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa village in the northern Jordan Valley leaving dozens of families homeless.
The Israeli occupation army carried out demolition campaigns in the village five times during one year according to local sources.
