The Israeli authorities demolished on Tuesday morning all the tents and structures in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Araqib in the Negev desert for the 198th consecutive time displacing its Bedouin 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 have become homeless again and will suffer from the harsh weather conditions 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. About 22 families made up of 110 people live in Araqib.
An estimated 80000 Palestinian Bedouins who carry Israeli citizenship live in several Negev communities which are often denied vital services including water electricity and education facilities.
Israel claims the villagers’ homes were built without permits but the local Palestinians have been there since they were displaced from their original villages during the occupation of Palestine in 1948.
The demolition of al-Araqib and other villages in the Negev is believed to be 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.
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.
