{"id":65950,"date":"2015-11-02T12:12:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T12:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=65950"},"modified":"2015-11-02T12:12:23","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T12:12:23","slug":"israel-demolishes-bedouin-village-of-al-araqib-for-the-90th-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/11\/israel-demolishes-bedouin-village-of-al-araqib-for-the-90th-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Demolishes Bedouin Village of Al Araqib \u2014 For the 90th Time!"},"content":{"rendered":"

28 Oct 2015 – Things have been quiet in the Negev lately. So the authorities decided to take advantage of this period of relative calm and, while everybody\u2019s attention was elsewhere, sent the bulldozers to destroy the unrecognized Bedouin village of Al Araqib \u2014 for the 90th\u00a0time.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>

Police arrive in Al Araqib to destroy it for the 90th time, October 28, 2015. (Aziz Alturi)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bulldozers returned to the Israeli Bedouin village of Al Araqib on Wednesday, along with police officers and someone from the Israel Land Authority. For the 90th (!) time, bulldozers destroyed the shacks and lean-tos the villagers have been living in since the authorities destroyed their original brick homes just over five years ago.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t need too many police officers, nor many bulldozers. Just two were enough. Along with one person from the Israel Land Authority, and some drivers. It\u2019s routine now. Everyone knows their role. Including the villagers.<\/p>\n

The residents stood helplessly as their few remaining resources \u2014\u00a0lumber, canvas and tarpaulin sheets \u2014\u00a0were confiscated or broken. They rescued a few possessions \u2014\u00a0 kitchen utensils, mattresses, children\u2019s toys and some chairs. Then they stood back and watched the bulldozers do their work. Afterward, as on all the previous occasions, they stood there and took photos. What else can they do. Where do they find the strength to stay there, not to be broken, to rebuild from the ruins once again.<\/p>\n

I called Aziz Alturi, one of the leaders of the struggle for Al Araqib.<\/p>\n

Hello Aziz, I\u2019m looking at the photos you posted on Facebook and my heart is twisting again. This is the 90th time, isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, this is the 90th time. They came this morning, in this freezing winter weather, with the rain pouring down. Yesterday we had a huge downpour, and today and\u00a0tomorrow\u00a0are supposed to be stormy as well. But the government does not care. It has its plans to carry out. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s pouring rain, or a heat wave, or the middle of Ramadan. Every day is a good day for waging war against citizens of Israel. Look at how the whole country is outraged that a few thousand houses lost electricity<\/a> because of the storm. That\u2019s all they\u2019re talking about. Well, look at us. Here in the Negev we\u2019ve been living without electricity for more than 60 years. Without access to running water. And look at how hard it is for them to live without electricity for one day. So how are we supposed to react.<\/p>\n

\"Residents<\/a>

Residents of Al Araqib photograph and film as bulldozers flatten their homes, October 28, 2015. (Aziz Alturi)<\/p><\/div>\n

So what happened this morning while things seemed to be calming down in the rest of the country? Is the state taking advantage of a period of relative quiet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This country is not looking for quiet and doesn\u2019t want to do anything to calm things down. When they\u2019re too busy to destroy here, they destroy elsewhere. You see the way they behave. Whenever they have an opportunity to pour kerosene on the fire, to provoke, they take advantage. If they don\u2019t see an opportunity to provoke, they\u2019ll look for one. In the Negev, in East Jerusalem, in Hebron \u2014 wherever they can. In every place where things seem to have calmed down a bit, they wade in and start a fire. This is not an error or carelessness. They have no intention of allowing any Arab who lives under their authority, whether inside the Green Line or in the occupied territories, to relax and enjoy his life. They are not here to serve our interests, but of other citizens.<\/p>\n

When it happens for the 90th time, does it still hurt the same amount? Do you start to get used to it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It hurts each and every time. There are things that you just can\u2019t get used to. When they demolish your home, you don\u2019t get used to that. Maybe you know better what to do when it happens, to take care of the kids, to salvage what you can, to photograph, but the pain is the same pain. And on the other hand, they will not break us. There have been 90 demolitions and maybe there will be another thousand, but we are here, on our land, next to our cemetery in which our forefathers have been buried for over 100 years. We don\u2019t have anywhere to go, and we have nothing left to lose. We won\u2019t let them banish us from our land.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you think is important to say to those who will read this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, I want to say that we\u2019ve learned from history that those in power never remain the strongest party forever, and the weaker party doesn\u2019t remain the weaker one forever. And we want to say to every Jew, to every Israeli who is proud of himself and loves this land, who loves the Negev and who loves his Judaism: rise up against this racist government. Because this government will bring only destruction to the country. It won\u2019t bring about anything else. Only destruction and ruin on us all.<\/p>\n

People need to open their eyes. A smart Jewish friend with whom I worked once told me, Aziz, \u201cyou need to imagine how we are all in the same boat, everyone with his own paddle. Anyone who stops rowing is thinking only of himself, and in the end we all drown.\u201d And that\u2019s exactly it. Everyone who doesn\u2019t stand up now and take his oar and do something for this place\u2019s future, it\u2019ll catch up with them. We live in a country that is oppressing its own citizens. Everywhere.<\/p>\n

Thanks for speaking with me. I stand in solidarity with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks, Avi.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>

Two bulldozers and two police officers was all it took, Al Araqib, October 28, 2015. (Aziz Alturi)<\/p><\/div>\n

I hang up and think about the people of Al Araqib who, for the 90th time, are wandering among the ruins of their homes, salvaging and gathering what they can, and preparing for the night that is quickly approaching. The children need somewhere to sleep, and everyone needs shelter from the cold rain. Some of them will sleep tonight, like after every demolition, in a car, some will improvise some shelter from the aluminum siding that remains. Nobody will consider leaving, of giving up, of surrendering. Tomorrow somebody will surely bring a few sheets of plywood and some nails, and they will have to find some people to help raise the minimum they need to survive once again. Until next time, in a few days or maybe even weeks.<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Avi Blecherman is an activist and journalist. This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call, where he is a blogger. Read it\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 Oct 2015 – Things have been quiet in the Negev lately. So the authorities decided to take advantage of this period of relative calm and, while everybody\u2019s attention was elsewhere, sent the bulldozers to destroy the unrecognized Bedouin village of Al Araqib \u2014 for the 90th time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}