Al-Araqeeb, a Palestinian Bedouin village in the southern Negev region of Israel, has been demolished by the Israeli army for the 186th time, and for the 11th time since the WHO (World Health Organisation) declared the outbreak of the ongoing pandemic in March 2020. These repeated demolitions have continued as part of the Prawer Plan, which seeks to Judaise the Negev region. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has denounced the Plan as discriminatory and a legalization of racist practices.
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, observes “[the Plan] will result in the destruction of 35 ‘unrecognized’ Arab Bedouin villages, the forced displacement of up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel, and the dispossession of their historical lands in the Naqab”. The villagers of Al-Araqeeb remain steadfast in the face of this most recent setback and have vowed to rebuild their village as soon as possible.
Read the full article from its original source >
