The Israeli authorities on Thursday demolished all Palestinian homes in the Bedouin village of Araqib in the Negev desert for the 174th consecutive time.

Local sources said that this is the fourth time that the Israeli authorities have destroyed the humble tents and structures the village's residents built to protect them from the cold since the beginning of 2020.

Araqib's residents live in a constant state of fear because they expect the demolition of their village at any moment after they manage to rebuild their homes again.

Araqib is one of several Bedouin villages in the Negev desert which are "unrecognized" by Israel.

About 240,000 Palestinians live in the Negev desert, most of whom live in villages that have been built for hundreds of years.

The repeated demolition of Araqib and other villages in the Negev falls in line with a systematic Israeli policy aimed at expelling the native population from the Negev and transferring them to government-zoned areas to pave the way for the construction and expansion of Jewish-only settlements.

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center