Raising vs. Razing a Village

Recently we featured a story about the village of Al-Arakib, an Arab Bedouin village in the Negev which is unrecognized by Israel. On July 27, Israeli police and bulldozers demolished all the structures in the village. Here is the lead to the BBC story on the July 27th demolition:

Around 300 Bedouins living in Israel's Negev desert have been made homeless after police raided their village and razed their homes.Israeli activists said 1,500 police arrived in Al-Arakib village at dawn.They destroyed 30 to 40 makeshift homes and uprooted hundreds of olive trees belonging to the villagers, they said.

After the villagers rebuilt their dwellings, in an act of non-violent defiance, a number of activists continued to stay on the scene. This morning they were abruptly woken up.

Al-Arakib was demolished again.

Al-Jazeera reports:

Joseph Dana, writer and filmmaker living in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera the village of al-Arakib was bulldozed in the early hours of Tuesday morning - for the third time in three weeks.

"We were jolted from our sleep at about 05:00am (0200 GMT) by roughly 100 to 200 border police officers in full combat and crowd dispersal equipment.

"The police quickly rounded up the 30 or so activists away from the temporary village structure which was rebuilt in the past few days. Unnecessary force was used to control the activists and several minor injuries were reported," Dana told Al Jazeera.

To the right is a photo of activists confronting the Israeli forces which arrived in Al-Arakib to demolish the village. In the the photo above we see what has become an all to familiar scene; a Palestinian woman seated before the remains of her former home.


This is not an unfamiliar occurrence. A similar battle between Palestinians who want to live peacefully on their land and the Israeli authorities who abhor that idea has been routinely taking place in the Jordan Valley.

The Jordan Valley, of course, is in the Occupied West Bank and much of the territory is designated 'Area C' by the Oslo Accords. This means that Israel maintains civil and military control over the territory. In other words, despite this being Palestinian land, if Israel wants to knock down your house it can do so at will.

Ma'an News reports yesterday:

The Jordan Valley has been a target for demolitions by Israel's Civil Administration, with several structures in villages across the area being torn down. On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians as well as foreign activists rebuilt areas in the nearby Al-Farisiya village that were recently bulldozed by Israel's Civil Administration. Over the past 10 days, several shacks, homes and agricultural structures were torn down in the village by the administration, which has complete planning and building control over Area C. Last Thursday, the Civil Administration returned to the valley to demolish 23 structures rebuilt by residents and farmers.

What's so 'civil' about this administration?

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