RAMALLAH
Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib in the Negev Desert for the 68th time.
"A large number of army and police forces stormed into the village and leveled ten homes to the ground," Awad Abu Frieh, a spokesman for the families of the village, told Anadolu Agency.
"The occupation force had not allowed the owners of the destroyed homes to take their belongings from the rubble, leaving them in the open air for the 68th time," he added.
Abu Frieh said that Israeli bulldozers had also destroyed eight homes in different areas in the Negev Desert, describing the event as a "massacre of Palestinian presence" in the desert.
Israeli officials could not be reached for comment.
Around 70 Palestinians, who carry Israeli citizenships, live in Al-Araqib. They say they own the land of the village even before Israel came into being in 1948.
More than 220,000 Palestinians live in the Negev Desert in general, but half of them live in villages and population concentrations that existed hundreds of years ago, according to Israeli statistics.
By Alaa Rimawi
englishnews@aa.com.tr
