The Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the occupied Negev region has been destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces for the 61st time. Local Palestinian sources said that bulldozers protected by a heavy police presence were used to knock homes to the ground.
“This time, the Israeli forces also uprooted trees and damaged fields belonging to the village,” said the sources. “They wanted to destroy all kinds of life so that the Palestinians will not stay there.”
The residents of Al-Araqeeb have different plans, however. They insisted that they will stay on their land which they inherited from their fathers and grandfathers and their fathers before them. They believe that the destruction of their village is part of Israel’s so-called Prawer Plan to clear the land of Palestinians to pave the way for illegal Jewish settlers.