First came this urgent email from Dr. Yeela Raanan, Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV, no link, tel +972 54 7487005, email yallylivnat@gmail.com):

Thousands of police evacuating and demolishing the village of El-Araqib in the Israeli Negev

Thousands of police are in the village of el-Araqib right now – beginning a mass evacuation, demolition, and erasure of this historical Bedouin village.

If you have access to the media, please send them to this village as soon as possible!

The village of el-Araqib is between Rahat and Beer Sheva, and in a location that the Goldberg commission deemed outside of the areas allowed for the Negev Arabs… an area designated only for Jews… the JNF (Jewish National Fund) is planting a forest on this village lands – to make sure that the Bedouin cannot live on their village lands or use them for agriculture. The villagers turned to the Israeli courts, as the JNF were planting this forest at the bequest of the Israeli government, but against Israeli law… the people of El-Araqib won the court battle… But this morning it seems that the Government of Israel has started a war — of the Government against its own citizens.

It was then followed by the details from Occupation Magazine:

Police destroys a whole Negev village – 200 children left homeless

Al_Arakib Popular Committee
Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
July 27, 2010

Destruction implemented though land ownership still pending in court. Netanyahu calls Bedouin citizens of Israel `real threat` – and next, an entire village in the Negev is demolished

Early this morning police raided the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Arakib in the Negev, destroyed all 40 of its houses, and evicted more than 300 residents. The residents, mostly children, were left homeless. The unprecedented raid began at about 4:30 in the morning, residents were surprised to wake up surrounded by a huge force of 1,500 police with guns, stun grenades, helmets and shields, including hundreds of Special Riot Police (Yasam) as well as mounted police, helicopters and bulldozers.

At the residents` call, dozens of left-wing activists and volunteers arrived from all over the country, helping them to offer non-violent resistance. Several residents were bruised and beaten by police, though not needing medical attention. One woman demonstrator was detained by the police. The police removed the residents` property into prepared containers, and bulldozers demolished the residential buildings and sheepfolds and destroyed the residents` fruit orchards and olive tree groves.

The villagers, mostly children and old people, were left stunned near the destroyed village, shelterless and waterless under the blazing sun

The destruction of the village was carried out despite dispute over ownership of the land still pending in the courts. Residents of al-Arakib are neither squatters nor invaders: their village has existed many years before the creation of Israel in 1948. Residents had been evicted by the state in 1951, but returned to the land on which they live and which they cultivate. Ownership of the land is now the subject of proceedings in the Be`er Sheva District Court, where academic researchers have already testified in confirmation of the residents` ownership right in the land.

The destruction`s declared aim is to facilitate plans by the Jewish National Fund to plant a wood on the site. We regard this demolition as a criminal act. Bedouin citizens of Israel are not enemies, and forestation of the Negev is not a reasonable pretext for destroying a community, which is more than 60 years old, dispossessing its residents, and violating the basic rights of hundreds of Israeli civilians, men, women and children.

This act by the state authorities is no `law enforcement` – it is a act of war, such as is undertaken against an enemy. This act cannot be dissociated from yesterday`s statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who at the cabinet meeting sounded a warning about `a situation in which a demand for national rights will be made from some quarters inside Israel, for example in the Negev, should the area be left without a Jewish majority. Such things happened in the Balkans, and it is a real threat.`

Presenting the Bedouin citizens of Israel as `a real threat` gives legitimacy to the expulsion of Israel`s Bedouin citizens from the Negev in order to `Judaize` it. We call on all who care for democracy to give their support to this threatened community.

Apartheid can take many forms. Yesterday, in Israel, we witnessed another step in that direction. Already, considerable numbers of Bedouin citizens of Israel have been herded into small towns following similar actions involving house (and tent) demolitions and deprivation of water. Since they can no longer lead their traditional lives in the Negev, 95% now work as cheap labor inside Israel, in the same manner as Black citizens of South Africa worked in white-owned industries and mines during the Apartheid period.

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, also ran the story (in Hebrew).

Permissions granted.

UPDATE: Villagers Rebuild Razed Bedouin Village

Written by Providence Knolls & Tania Kepler
Posted: 30 July 2010 10:31

One day after Israeli authorities razed the Bedouin village of el Araqib, village residents joined with Palestinian, Israeli and international volunteers to rebuild the village.

“We successfully rebuilt all the structures and tents destroyed, noted Dr. Awad Abu Freih, spokesperson of the el Araqib village and member of the el Araqib Popular Committee and the Arab Education Forum in the Negev. In a conversation with the AIC, Dr. Abu Freih stated that the residents of el Araqib “plan on building more than what was destroyed, in an attempt to prevent future demolitions….”

Despite being unrecognized by Israel, the village of el Araqib has existed since before the creation of Israel in 1948. Bedouin residents were evicted by the newly declared Israeli state in 1951, but returned to the land on which they live and where they cultivate. Ownership of the land is now the subject of proceedings in the Be’er Sheva District Court.

Dr. Abu Freih calls on internationals to help the Bedouins of El-Araqib in their struggle for survival to remain in their village. He states that they are currently in need of “everything,” from money to visits to media attention. He encourages anyone interested to speak to the villagers and spend the day or night with them.

http://www.just-international.org/index.php/villagers-rebuild-razed-bedouin-village.html

Justice deserves persistence.