Israel demolishes al-Araqib village for 210th time

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli authorities again demolished on Monday a Palestinian Bedouin village in the southern Negev region.

"The Israeli authorities demolished the al-Araqib village for the 210th time," Aziz al-Touri, a member of the Committee for the Defense of al-Araqib, told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Touri confirmed that the villagers intended to rebuild their destroyed dwellings and other structures.

The Israeli authorities demolished the village houses for the last time mid-November.

Homes in al-Araqib, inhabited by 22 Palestinian families, are built of wood, plastic, and corrugated iron.

The village was first destroyed in 2010 but since then, it has been rebuilt every time it was destroyed. Israeli authorities claim that the location of the village falls under "state land."

Zochrot, a Tel Aviv-based NGO, said in a recent report that al-Araqib village was first built during the Ottoman period and its lands were purchased by residents.

Israeli authorities seek to seize the control of the lands and expel its residents, with dozens of villages and Bedouin communities facing the same threat in the Negev area, according to Zochrot.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.