Israel destroys Palestinian village for 148th time

Israeli authorities, it said, demolished on Thursday the crude homes and tents in the Bedouin village of Araqib in the occupied territories, displacing its residents.
 
Citing local activist Saleem Araqib, the report said that Israeli forces, equipped with demolishing machinery, stormed the impoverished village and forcibly removed the residents from their homes before wreaking havoc on everything.
 Israeli soldiers and employees from the Bedouin development authority, which is responsible for such demolitions, destroyed homes and structures with demolishing vehicles, tore apart tents with knives, and plundered chairs, pillows, mattresses and other belongings and pieces of furniture from the villagers.
 
Al-Araqib is one of several Bedouin villages in the Negev desert, which are “unrecognized” by the Israeli regime.
 The village, with about 220 residents, was initially demolished on July 27, 2010, but has since been rebuilt dozens of times by its residents and activists.
 The United Nations says the “vast majority” of the Palestinian structures are destroyed or seized because Israeli policies make it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits.
 Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures have raised alarm among diplomats and human rights groups over what they regard as Tel Aviv’s continued violation of international law.
 
Back in March, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that Israel had occupied more than 85 percent or some 27,000 square kilometers of historical territories of Palestine in an expropriation process which still continues unabated.
 Over half a million Israeli settlers live in more than 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Built on the occupied land, the settlements are internationally condemned as illegal.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.