Israeli Bulldozers Destroy al-Araqib Village for Twentieth Time

PNN – Palestine News Network – 17.02.11 – 14:56

Negev – PNN – One day after Israeli bulldozers destroyed the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev Desert of southern Israel for the nineteenth time, they returned to demolish it again, according to a report from the Palestine Information Center. Residents returned and pledged to rebuild.

After bulldozers showed up, accompanying Israeli soldiers shot rubber bullets at several Bedouin protesters, resulting in two injuries. The local Committee for Unrecognized Villages head said more protests would be organized in nearby Beersheba.

The village is neither recognized nor licensed by the Israeli state and has been demolished as a result twenty times in the last eight months. It was first demolished on July 27, 2010 and most recently on February 16. On January 16, Israeli troops confiscated building materials in an attempt to thwart al-Araqib’s residents from rebuilding the village, but they went ahead anyway.

About 155,000 Bedouins live in “unrecognized villages” throughout present-day Israel, many of which predate the state itself.  The Jewish National Fund has planned to plant trees in place of the razed villages as part of the “Blueprint Negev” campaign.

PNN – Palestine News Network – Israeli Bulldozers Destroy al-Araqib Village for Twentieth Time.