The Popular Committee for Defense of Land in the Interior reports that the very existence of “unrecognized villages” inside Israeli boundaries remains under threat. On Tuesday in the Negev Desert Israeli bulldozers destroyed four more homes.
The Committee indicated that the demolitions are “within the framework of the Israeli plan to expel the Bedouins in the Negev by harassing them to the point that they leave.
"The Land Defense Committee continued to explain that the reasoning given by the Israelis inside Israeli boundaries a "lack of permits." The Committee said Wednesday, “This is a pretext used by occupation forces in order to pass policies that are hostile to Palestinians, particularly in the Negev region.”
The Committee says that Israeli forces “continue to pursue Palestinians” at the same time “depriving them of urban expansion.”
The Israeli government refuses to recognize tens of long-standing Palestinian villages that exist inside Israeli boundaries. “The occupation forces ae carrying out their next wave of crimes to displace Palestinians and destroy their lives.”
Israeli forces recently demolished 25 houses in the Negev and distributed dozens more demolition notices. The Israelis have plans to build more Jewish settlements in the area. “The settlements were built on confiscated land and border villages and farms, so when they expand they just take more Palestinian land.
”Residents awoke yesterday to the sound of dozens of Israeli police, border guards and jeeps storming the village. Eyewitnesses report that they were "shouting, informing us of the decision to demolish four family homes on 'the land of Israel.'
"Local sources report that the police and army surrounded the houses and forced the residents to leave at gunpoint. An eyewitness said, “The Israelis then used bulldozers to demolish the homes without prior warning.”
Bilal Yousef of the Land Defense Committee said that this is the fourth time recently that Israeli forces demolished regional homes. He said, “It is a message and warning to the people to prevent them from returning to their land.”
