Zionist Nazis destry Palestinian village

[Nahraf]

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian homes, shops

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian homes, shops
Updated at: 0815 PST, Wednesday, July 28, 2010

RAMALLAH: Israeli authorities have demolished eight structures belonging to Palestinians in a residential area northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Gharbi mayor Ghassan Abu Salem said more than a dozen military vehicles carrying armed soldiers arrived mid-morning Wednesday with military equipment to carry out the demolitions.

"They immediately began tearing down the structures," Abu Salem said. "They were homes and shops right on the main street, but the army said they were illegally built in 'Area C'," which falls under Israeli control.

Israeli authorities said the demolitions were justified.

"The owners were given orders to stop building but they did not," a spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration, which coordinates non-military matters in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Ma'an.

Young men from the Palestinian village threw stones at the Israeli forces who were guarding the construction equipment after they carried out the demolitions, the official said. There were no reports of injury.

Two of the demolished structures were home to the families of Natham A’ttallah and Ahmad Ya’qub, who are now staying with relatives. Netham was preparing to host a wedding for his son Friday at the home, "but the bulldozers smashed it down to rubble," Abu Salem said.

Two other homes were demolished, as well, one which was already complete with the owners set to move in over the weekend, Abu Salem said. Also demolished were shops and agricultural buildings, he said.

Palestinians say the targeted area is home to many of the village's 1,500 residents.

"The matter is indicative of the occupation authorities' ongoing determination to eradicate the Palestinian presence in these areas for the benefit of settlers and settlements,” Abu Salem said.

 

[Nahraf]

Bedouins in the Negev: Israel razes homes - latimes.com

Israel razes homes in Bedouin village
In another episode in the long-running dispute between Arab tribes in the Negev desert and the Israeli government, bulldozers knock down 45 homes and residents vow to rebuild.
Demolished home

For the sixth time in a decade, farmer Ismail Mohamed Salem watched Israeli bulldozers raze his home in this disputed Bedouin village.

Hours later, he sat next to the rubble and vowed to rebuild — yet again.

"This is my land," said Salem, 70, as his grandchildren lay sleeping on straw mats next to the demolished structure, now a 20-foot pile of twisted aluminum, broken concrete and splintered wood. "Why should I leave?"

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Salem's home was among 45 demolished early Tuesday as part of a long-running dispute between Arab tribes in the Negev desert and the Israeli government.

Bedouin residents, who are Muslim, say they were forced off their land nearly six decades ago and are pushed out again whenever they return. Israeli officials say the property was taken over by the state in the early 1950s because it was abandoned and has been slated by the Jewish National Fund for a massive national park.

Destruction of Arakib village — the largest such razing in years —- left many of the 300 Arab-Israeli citizens homeless in 100-degree temperatures and raised fears that Israel is resuming a crackdown on what it calls "unauthorized" Bedouin shantytowns that dot southern Israel.

The long-running Bedouin saga is often overshadowed by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

These tribes once wandered modern-day Jordan, Israel and Egypt in search of pastures for their animals. But the nomadic way of life began coming to a halt for most after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, when national borders were formed. Most fled to Jordan and Egypt after Israel's war for independence in 1948, leaving about 10,000 Bedouins in Israel.

As usual here, the dispute today is over land ownership. Bedouin families around Arakib say they own about 4,600 acres of the desert, insisting that they paid taxes during the Ottoman period and British Empire. Gravestones in the cemetery show some families have inhabited the area for at least 140 years.

In 1951, Bedouin leaders say, they were forced by Israel's military into settlements along the West Bank border.

"They told us we could come back in six months," said Nori Uqbi, a community activist who is suing the government to regain control of what he says is his family's land. "But it was all a lie."

Instead, he said, the villagers were never allowed to return and have been prevented from cultivating the land.

In 1999, several dozen families rushed back and began building homes when it appeared that Israeli authorities were trying to reforest the area and seize the land. After that, confrontations — both in the courthouse and on the ground — have occurred regularly. Bedouins built homes, and Israeli bulldozers demolished them. The government sprayed crops with chemicals to kill them, but farmers plowed the dirt and replanted.

Israeli officials say the property in question was taken by the state because inhabitants were unable to produce deeds.

Authorities characterize Bedouins as "squatters" who refuse to pay rent, cultivate land that does not belong to them and raise animals without obtaining the necessary livestock permits.

"The families continued to plant on the state lands and expanded their invasion by building structures without approval, blatantly trampling the law," the Israeli Land Authority said in a statement Tuesday.

Much of the area, which is adjacent to the ancient city of Beersheba, is due to become a park that would include bike paths, hotels, an amusement park and other tourist attractions.

The Israeli Defense Forces also use the Negev — a largely inhospitable terrain that makes up about 60% of Israel's land mass — for training.

For years, Israel's proposed solution for dealing with the Bedouins in the south, who now number about 140,000, has been to move them into seven cities in southern Israel. Though poor, the communities offer basic infrastructure, such as water, electricity, schools and sewage.

About half of the Bedouins have opted to move to the cities, but the rest are living in about 45 villages and encampments with no government services.

"They are trying to move us all onto reservations," said Uqbi, referring to the seven communities. "But there is no economy, no jobs, no place for agriculture."

In 2008, a state-appointed commission recommended that the government recognize most of the "unauthorized" villages and provide permits for the homes.

Large-scale demolitions in Arakib stopped about four years ago, residents say. But seated under a canvas tent Tuesday, looking out over the piles of debris left by the bulldozers, village leaders said the cycle appears to be starting again. And by late afternoon, the desert dunes began to echo with a familiar rhythmic thud as hammers pounded nails into fresh wooden frames.

 

[Nahraf]

gulfnews : Arab village obliterated by Israelis colonists

Arab village obliterated by Israelis colonists

Palestinian Authoritiescondemned Israeli forces for erasing the village of Al Araqeeb in Al Nakkab’s desert, from the map

* By Nasouh Nazzal, Correspondent
* Published: 17:19 July 27, 2010

A Bedouin man gestures as he stands facing a row of Israeli police officers in riot gear

Ramallah: Palestinian Authorities Tuesday condemned Israeli forces for erasing an entire Arab village, called Al Araqeeb in Al Nakkab’s desert, from the map, after their forces completely destroyed it.

They claimed that the Israeli colonists course of action is unacceptable and violates international law and added that the Palestinian authorities may well take legal measures against the state of Israel to force the return of the residents of Al Araqeeb and the rebuilding of the village.

The Israeli government has never recognised the village and considered any construction within it illegal, despite the fact that approximately a thousand people have lived there for many years.

In recent years the government had already seized huge tracts of land and forced many residents to evacuate their homes. They also disfigured the village – chopping down trees and destroying landmarks.

Residents stood little chance when the Israeli’s raided the village with thousands of soldiers and using giant military bulldozers to destroy their homes. After the local mosque was destroyed women and children were transported to a near-by cemetery by lorry, before being moved to another location.

The village’s residents have vowed to fight the Israeli forces to recover their lands and rebuild their village.

Palestinian sources say that the crime will be thoroughly discussed with the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel.

 

[Nahraf]

Israeli forces completely destroy village in the Negev desert
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 23:44
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Israeli forces completely destroy village in the Negev desert

According the Palestinian Information Centre, eyewitness accounts state that the village was surrounded by thousands of Israeli soldiers in an effort to conceal the mass expulsion and wanton destruction.
This morning (27.07.2010), Israeli forces embarked on the total destruction of al-Araqeeb village in the Negev desert. The village was cordoned off and its inhabitants expelled before demolitions began. All 45 homes in the village were bulldozed and the village itself has been was wiped from existence.

Al-Araqeeb, one of an approximate 45 other such villages, had existed in the Negev long before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. However, under Israeli law, it was 'unrecognised' and therefore considered an illegal settlement. It was under this pretext that this atrocity has been carried out.

According the Palestinian Information Centre, eyewitness accounts state that the village was surrounded by thousands of Israeli soldiers in an effort to conceal the mass expulsion and wanton destruction. Air cover was also provided by the police.

Talab al-Sana, the parliamentary representative for the Negev region, has fiercely condemned this act of aggression by the Israeli authorities. Al-Sana is currently in London as a guest of the Middle East Monitor to discuss the current Israeli campaign of persecution and intimidation of Arab Israelis and particularly, the efforts to criminalise Arab political activity by delegitimising the community's democratically elected representatives. Al-Sana and his colleagues have recently come under fire and have been targeted and threatened with exile and with being stripped of their parliamentary privileges.

Observers have warned that the government decision to demolish al-Araqeeb is indicative of its intention to step up efforts to Judaise the Negev by emptying it of its indigenous inhabitants and destroying all of the remaining 45 'unrecognised' villages. Israeli treatment of its Arab citizens is now comparable to its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and the fears are that this latest human rights abuse could ignite civil unrest.