Israeli occupation authorities have demolished the Palestinian village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert, occupied in 1948, for the 199th time, displacing its people again despite the extreme cold weather.
In press statements, activist Aziz al-Toury had said that occupation bulldozers entered the village, forcibly removed its residents, and after demolished their homes.
Al-Araqib was last demolished at the end of last month.
The village’s residents’ homes are built of wood, plastic and tin. 22 families live there.
After every demolition, residents re-built the village, in order to shelter themselves from the extreme temperatures of both summer and winter, and to resist the campaign to uproot them from their lands.
Israeli authorities demolished the village for the first time in July 2010. It has been demolished and rebuilt continuously since then.
The last demolition, on 17 February of this year, was the eighth time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Israeli government declines to recognise al-Araqib, whilst its residents insist on staying on their land, despite the repeated destruction of their homes.
Al-Araqib was established during the Ottoman period, on land purchased by the residents.
Israeli authorities aim to expel the residents from the village and thereby gain control of their lands, just as they have done with dozens of villages in the Negev region.
