NAQAB, April 25, 2017 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Tuesday demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab desert in southern Israel for 112th time, according to a local official.
Member of the village’s local committee, Aziz Abu Medighim, said Israeli bulldozers backed by a large police force stormed the village in the early morning hours and demolished all residential tents and homes made of metal sheeting.
The first demolition of al-Araqib took place in late June 2010.
Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered “unrecognized” by the Israeli state.
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.R./M.K.
