Look at the Photo Below - What do you think is going on?
"This is the village of Al Arakib, a Bedouin village in the north Negev. These Israeli soldiers have just helped to demolish her home as they have done FIVE times since July!
Everyone in this photo is Israeli - EVERYONE!
But why would they do that, she is an Israeli citizen, too.
Important points from
Israel 'declares war on its people' - Al Jazeera English by
Mya Guarnieri:
The government claims that Al Arakib was abandoned and, as such, belongs
to the state. According to the state, these people must
be removed to make way for a forest to be planted by the Jewish National
Fund.
Villagers, some of whom hold Ottoman-era deeds to the property, say that
the Israeli army asked them to leave temporarily in 1951. Believing
they would be able to move back, they left. It was then, they say, that
the state declared Al Arakib abandoned and expropriated it.
But the Bedouin maintained a connection to the earth. They continued to
cultivate the village land, harvesting olives, pomegranates, and other
produce. And more than a decade ago, they rooted themselves in Al Arakib
once again, building houses and families.
Just days before the village was destroyed for the first time, Binyamin
Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, declared that "an international
campaign is being waged against the definition of Israel as a Jewish
state .... in the Negev, for example, if it becomes a
region without a Jewish majority". Netanyahu added that such a change
would be "a real threat" to the Jewish state.
Israeli activists like Amit Ramon agree. Ramon says he feels a
responsibility to stand against any injustice the government commits in
his name. He has been with the village since the beginning and witnessed
the first demolition, when some 1,500 police came to evacuate the 300
residents. "They came with power like they thought the citizens would open war against them," Ramon says. The police forcibly removed the villagers, who resisted non-violently. And then they destroyed Al Arakib. "They
ruined all the houses, they tore out the trees, they knocked over all
the water tanks. There were hen cages. They ruined everything." Ramon
pauses and looks at the ground. He seems to be struggling to come to
terms with the memory. "It was the end of July. It's hot here, people
need to drink water. They need to drink water," he says, "and [the
police] spilled all the water. They broke [the tanks] so it's impossible
to use them."
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Israel 'declares war on its people'
