Israel knocks down Araqib village for the fourth time

[ 17/08/2010 - 01:36 PM ]

NEGEV, (PIC)-- Clashes erupted between Israeli police backed by special forces and the villagers of Araqib as a heavy fleet of Israeli troops raided the village for the fourth demolition process against the ramshackle.

Israeli police assaulted and arrested a number of residents after they attempted to protect their village from the demolition.

The Israeli Land Authority (ILA) in its third demolition operation in the beginning of Ramadan confiscated the contents of all leveled houses and loaded them on trucks, plowed the streets, and took down the sign bearing the town’s name.

“The [Israeli] occupation’s bulldozers began at 05:00 a lightning campaign and removed all of the tents we live in, and left us in the open without respect for the month of Ramadan,” Sheikh Sayah al-Touri, a Bedouin chief, told reporters.

Regional council chairman, Ibrahim al-Waqeeli denounced the demolition and Israel’s lack of respect for Ramadan. “We do not expect good from the Zionist regime. They knock down and we build,” he said.

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