[News] Israel razes Negev village for the third time - Bedouin start to rebuild

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Israel razes Negev village again

  By Ayse Alibeyoglu

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Israeli authorities have reportedly used "unnecessary force" to 
demolish the homes of Bedouins in a village in the southern Negev 
desert, according to a witness.

<http://josephdana.com/>Joseph Dana,a writer and filmmaker living in 
Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera the village of al-Arakib was bulldozed in 
the early hours of Tuesday morning - for the third time in three weeks.

"We were jolted from our sleep at about 05:00am (0200 GMT) by roughly 
100 to 200 border police officers in full combat and crowd dispersal equipment.

"The police quickly rounded up the 30 or so activists away from the 
temporary village structure which was rebuilt in the past few days. 
Unnecessary force was used to control the activists and several minor 
injuries were reported," Dana told Al Jazeera.

Al-Arakib, which had about 40 homes and 300 residents, is one of 45 
Bedouin villages not recognised by Israeli authorities.

It was 
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/07/201072774211397266.html>demolished 
in late Julyby the Israel Land Administration, briefly rebuilt with 
temporary shelters, 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3929981,00.html>then 
destroyed againlast week.

An Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Talab el-Sana, had barricaded 
himself inside al-Arakib at one point last week before it was 
demolished, 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3930001,00.html>the 
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth 
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3930001,00.html>reported.

'Homes bulldozed'

"While the police were dealing with the activists, bulldozers 
destroyed all of the village structures. Most building material was 
then removed from the scene in order to ensure the highest degree of 
difficulty in rebuilding the village," he added.

"The destruction of the village lasted approximately one hour and 
during its course, one Israeli activist was arrested after being 
brutally thrown to the ground."

According to Dana, two Palestinians and one Israeli activist were 
also arrested in the area around al-Arakib "on Monday night".

"One simply cannot imagine the scene when 200 armed combat police 
officers descend on a village in the desert at 05:00am (0200 GMT), 
while a construction crew systemically demolishes every structure 
leaving the residents literally in the open desert air with nothing.

"There was little to no thought or remorse on the faces of the police 
officers while the village residents and their supporters were left 
visibly shaken.

"As soon as the police and construction crews left the village, 
residents began to rebuild all the structures that were demolished 
with the assistance of Israeli and international supporters."




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20100810/cb3e5394/attachment.htm>