The Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished the village of Al-Araqib in the Negev region for the 199th time in a row, local media reported.
This is the second time that the village has been demolished since the beginning of this year, as the authorities demolished the village 14 times last year.
Houses in Al-Araqib are built of wood, plastic and tin, and are inhabited by 22 families, numbering about 800 people.
The people re-erect them each time from wood and a nylon cover to protect them from the intense heat in the summer and the bitter cold in the winter, and in response to plans for their uprooting and displacement.
The Israeli authorities demolished the village for the first time on July 27, 2010, and since then it has been demolished every time residents rebuild it.
It is reported that Al-Araqib was built for the first time during the Ottoman rule on lands purchased by the residents.
According to a Zochrot organization report, the Israeli authorities have been working to expel the residents of the village since 1951 with the aim of controlling their lands, noting that the authorities do not recognize dozens of other villages in the Negev region and refuse to provide any services to them.
The villagers have evidence of their ownership of 1,250 dunams (1.25 square kilometres) of land dating back to the 1970s, but the Israeli forces refuse to accept it and work to evict them from their property.
An estimated 200,000 Bedouins live in Israel, centred mainly in the country’s southern region. They are often denied state services, including water, electricity and educational facilities.
