By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Betul Yilmaz
JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – Israel demolished a Palestinian village in the southern Negev region on Wednesday, marking the 244th time over the course of 15 years.
Aziz al-Touri, a member of the Committee for the Defense of Al-Araqib, a local NGO devoted to safeguarding the village from Israeli depredations, told Anadolu that Israeli forces raided the village and demolished its homes.
He added that Israeli authorities arrested his elderly father, Sheikh Sayah al-Touri, before later releasing him.
“The residents have begun rebuilding what the Israeli authorities destroyed. Al-Araqib will remain, and we will not leave,” Touri said.
Israeli authorities demolished the Palestinian village’s homes, which are made of wood, plastic, and tin, for the first time in July 2010.
According to an Anadolu correspondent, each time the village is demolished by the Israeli authorities, residents, around 22 families, rebuild it anew.
The Israeli government does not recognize the village of al-Araqib, yet its residents insist on remaining there despite repeated demolitions.
In a previous report, the Israeli non-profit organization Zochrot, which aims to document and raise awareness about the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, stated that al-Araqib was first established during the Ottoman period on land purchased by its residents.
The organization said that Israeli authorities are working to forcibly displace the village’s residents in order to seize their land, noting that Israel does not recognize dozens of other Palestinian villages in the Negev region and refuses to provide them with any services.