Negev desert tribes under threat of expulsion from their lands

PressTV - Negev desert tribes under threat of expulsion:

Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:35PM GMT
Ibrahim Husseini, Press TV, Araqib

"The fate of Palestine's Bedouins is no different than the rest of Palestinians. In the southern Naqab desert, Bedouin tribes roamed the area since a long time ago, long before Israelis.

The story of the Bedouin tribe of al-turi in the araqeeb is another live example of a people under threat of expulsion under various pretenses.

A mere five miles to the north of Be'er Al Sabe'e, the araqeeb had a population of about 500, but on July 27, of 2010, the village was demolished under orders of the Israel Land Administration.

Following the destruction residents immediately began to rebuild, but since last year, Israeli bulldozers had demolished the makeshift tents, 28 times.

Arab MK Talab el Sane'e says that there is a systematic targeting of Arabs and Arab land in the Naqab carried by Israel, and while Arab villages are under threat, some 130 Jewish settlements in the area flourish.

Despite a strong solidarity movement and a number advocacy campaigns in favor of the Araqeeb village, Israel's land administration is adamant on emptying the land from its indigenous people in favor of creating parks.
Israel maintains that the Araqeeb Bedouins failed to produce proof of ownership of the land, and accuses them of illegally cultivating it.

However the Bedouins and members of the solidarity movement are equally adamant about rebuilding the village.This week, to mark the one year anniversary of the first mass demolition, volunteers joined the people of Araqeeb in building homes and planting olive trees to demonstrate their resolve to hold on to their land.
15 villages await the same fate of this razed village of araqeeb, but the Bedouins vow to resist Israel's attempts to expell them from their land and warn that Israel's actions amount to ethnic cleansing.



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