Sheikh Sayyah Al-Touri, the head of Al-Araqib village’s council, said the bulldozers of ILA and the Jewish National Fund, backed by hundreds of Israeli police officers demolished the homes of the village.

Israel insists that unrecognized Bedouin homes in the Negev must be destroyed because they have no permits and have been built without basic infrastructures.

The village, which is located between the cities of Rahat and Beer Sheva in the southern Negev Desert, was demolished for the 28th time last May, but as in previous instances, it was immediately rebuilt.

Volunteers from the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee and several Arab and Israeli political activists had helped the villagers of Al-Araqib rebuild their homes every time the Israeli authorities demolish them. The activists said that they will continue to rebuild structures in the village.

Al-Touri said that the police inspectors confiscated the ingredients of the homes, one of them for a new couple, and transferred them to unknown locations before the bulldozers began the demolition process.

He added that the Israeli security forces declared the village a closed military zone and prevented Arab and Israeli leftist activists and journalists from entering it to show solidarity or to cover the demolition.

Al-Touri said the “demolition aims at establishing farms for Jewish residents of Givot Bar settlement at the expense of the village residents and a message from the Israeli government that it will not recognize the village.” He stressed that the “residents are determined steadfast in their village despite the Israeli measures.” He vowed that the “residents will rebuild their homes every time Israel razes them.” Talab El-Sana, the Arab Member of Israeli of Knesset, said “the demolition of the village leads to unrest in the Arab sector in general, and the Negev in particular.” El-Sana vowed the demolished village would be reconstructed, adding that “the only solution is recognition, not displacement; issuing building permits, not demolition.” The ILA reiterates its stance that the demolitions were carried our legally and according to a court order that determined the residents invaded an area that were not theirs, and did not act in good faith.

The ILA said the evacuation of Bedouins was conducted after many years of legal - and physical - battles against the Al-Touri tribe. The ILA said the Al-Touri tribe invaded the area, which is state land, in 1998 and in 2000 a court order was handed down banning them from entering the area. But the tribe moved in and planted trees. The ILA offered to rent them the land at a price of 2 Israeli shekel per dunam, but they refused to pay.

Israeli human rights organizations said Israel prevents many 30,000 Bedouins from building legally by refusing to recognize their towns. The groups claim Israel frequently demolishes existing homes and does not supply those that remain with basic needs such as water, sewage and electricity.

The groups said Israel builds Jewish homes and turns a blind eye to unlawful Jewish construction in the Negev area. They added that Israeli government plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin Arabs from their homes to the seven government-planned townships in the Negev.