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Disabled Bedouin woman left homeless after Israeli demolition

February 17, 2017 at 6:35 pm

Israeli bulldozers being transported to a Palestinian village in the Negev on August 2016 [Maannews]

Israeli forces demolished a house in the Bedouin village of Al-Zarora in the Negev leaving a disabled woman homeless on Wednesday morning.

Head of the regional council for unrecognized Bedouin villages Attiya Al-Asam told Ma’an that the Israeli demolition campaign in the Negev had “crossed all lines” by targeting the homes of disabled residents, adding that the recent wave of demolitions were “inhumane” and were motivated by “hatred for the Arabs”.

He added that Israeli police and authorities had dealt with the recent evacuation of the illegal Israeli outpost of Amona with “patience”, while the government has “done everything to solve the settlers’ problems, pay them compensation, and provide them new homes.” However, the demolitions carried out on Arab homes are done using “cruel methods”, while leaving “women, children, and even handicapped individuals homeless in cold weather and rain.”

Israeli forces also levelled lands at the Gulim bus station in Rahat, a recognised Bedouin city in southern Israel, on Wednesday. The head of the Galim Public Transportation Company in Rahat held the mayor responsible for the activities in the area.

The Israeli government has plans to evacuate thousands of Bedouin residents to officially recognised Bedouin townships, one of which is Rahat, in order to build new housing on the evacuated land for non-Bedouin Israeli citizens.

Bedouin communities in the Negev have been the target of a heightened demolition campaign in recent weeks, following Israeli leaders publicly expressing their commitment to demolish Palestinian structures which are lacking difficult to obtain Israeli-issued building permits.