Thursday, 17 February 2011 11:35 Tania Kepler for the Alternative Information Center (AIC)
The Bedouin village of El Araqib was attacked by Israeli forces and destroyed for the 18th time Thursday morning (17/2).
"Israeli police, special forces, and riot police entered the village very early Thursday morning, before the residents had awakened. The police and Jewish National Fund, armed with bulldozers and weapons, destroyed the few buildings that were constructed Wednesday, following the 17th demolition, and surrounded the cemetery where the residents of El Araqib were sleeping, so they were not able to get out.
While the residents were barricaded inside, the Jewish National Fund again worked on preparing the land for the planting of God TV’s “Peace Forest.”
In the later hours of the morning, around 100 residents of the nearby Bedouin city Rahat, some formerly of El Araqib, arrived at the village to show support and solidarity.
Israeli forces, however, blocked them from entering. The men and women sat on the road, waiting for admission to the cemetery to spend time with their friends and relatives.
While plain clothes Israeli police officers were negotiating with the visitors from Rahat, the riot police decided that they needed to leave and began shooting men, women and children with rubber bullets.
Because the people were blocked from entered the village, they were forced to flee on the road. The police chased after them for around two kilometers, at shot tear gas at them. Seven people were arrested, two of them underage. One of those arrested is Dr. Awad Abu Frieh, the El Araqib village spokesperson.
During this time the highway, Route 40, was blocked by the police in both directions. Once the people from Rahat had left, and the police were finished making arrests, the JNF continued working.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces arrived in the early hours of the morning and shot at the residents with rubber bullets and paint ball guns. When the first round of shooting subsided, the special forces pushed people from their homes and began demolishing the village for the 17thtime.
The residents of El Araqib have barricaded themselves inside the village cemetery for protection and to prevent the destruction of the historic burial ground as well. Yesterday, all of the exits to the cemetery were closed by Israeli forces, and JNF bulldozers spent much of the day circling the site.
This Friday, 18 February, at noon there will be an inter-religious prayer in El Araqib. Muslims and Jews will pray alongside each other and afterwards will stand together and speak of how our common religious traditions reject the violation of El Araqib residents' rights.
Those interested in participating can contact Rabbis for Human Rights at +972.2.648.275. There will also be organized transportation from Jerusalem and if needed, from Tel Aviv.
Also see
18th Israeli Attack on El Araqib Bedouin Village in Photos
The video below was first posted on Max Blumenthal's site. Click the link Below to read more
The Jewish National Fund and GOD TV’s Pogrom Against Al Arakib Continues
...a shocking video depicting the 17th(!) pogrom against the Bedouin village of Al-Arakib by the criminal syndicate known as the Jewish National Fund and the End Timers at GOD TV. Apparently Israeli riot police fired bean bag rounds and tear gas to disperse the villagers, wounding children while violently arresting their parents.
demolition, Dispossesion and Resistance in Al-Arakib, Israel, Februrary 10th 2011:
"tarabut1 | February 16, 2011 | 6 likes, 0 dislikes
On February 10, 2011, police and black-clad special units forces arrived to the Bedouin village Al-Arakib, 15 km north of Beer Sheva, Israel, to demolish their homes and expel them from their land for the 16th time. The inhabitants of Al-Arakib were dispossessed in the early 1950s and since then they have demanded to return to their ancestral land and recognition of their rights to the land at the site where the village had existed before the establishment of the state of Israel. Various means have been used during the past 10 years to break their resistance: their fields were sprayed with pesticides from the air and they themselves suffered health damages; their cultivated fields were deep-plowed to destroy the crops, and since July 2010, their homes were demolished time after time. The demolitions were accompanied by massive violence against the inhabitants and hundred of fruit trees were uprooted. The KKL-JNF, the Jewish National Fund is preparing the ground for planting trees in order to take possession of the land and prevent its future cultivation by the Bedouins. Since January 2011 the JNF and the Israel Land Administration escalated the oppressive measures: the homes are demolished several times a week, heavy violence is used against the inhabitants and social activists who have joined them, and in front of the very eyes of the people of Al-Arakib, their village is erased and the land is leveled by bulldozers to prepare the ground for forestation. On February 10, police forces arrived again to the village. The inhabitants of Al-Arakib and activists tried to resist nonviolently and hold on in the face of dispossession.
For further details:
Hithabrut-Tarabut, Arab-Jewish Movement for Social and Political Change, www.tarabut.info
Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, www.dukium.org
To see the first video taped demolition of the village see our following post:
Fascist Israel Razes Second Beduin Village within a Week - Demolishing Al Araqib Village or simply type Al-Araqib in the search box in the upper part of this page to see more posts.
- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog. Activist and Other Videos on Palestine
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment