Israel Demolishes Palestinian Bedouin Village for 196th Time

Naqab, MINA – Israeli authorities demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab desert in southern Israel for the 196th consecutive time since 2000 and for the 14th time this year.

Israeli police broke into the village and dismantled and confiscated the tin homes residents build every time their village is demolished, leaving the local residents, including children, homeless in the extremely cold weather as the country was affected on Tuesday by a low-pressure polar front.

Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered unrecognized by the Israeli government, WAFA reported.

According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), more than half of the approximately 160,000 Naqab Bedouins reside in unrecognized villages, which the state refuses to provide with a planning structure and place under municipal jurisdiction.

ACRI said the Israeli government uses a variety of measures to pressure Bedouins into relocating to government-planned urban centers that disregard their lifestyle and needs.

“Whole communities have been issued demolition orders; others are forced to continue living in unrecognized villages that are denied basic services and infrastructure, such as electricity and running water,” said the center.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)