Video duration 02 minutes 39 seconds
The Israeli occupation authorities announced a freeze on bulldozing operations in the Negev region until a settlement is reached regarding the targeted lands. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced the recent occupation practices in the area of ”repression, abuse and land bulldozing.”
The Israeli police had sent large forces to the Negev to secure the land leveling operations that have been going on for two days in the Naqa’ al-Saba’ villages area in the Negev.
Violent confrontations erupted between the Israeli forces and the villagers, who protested against the bulldozing operations and said that it was the confiscation of their private lands.
The “Jewish National Fund” supervises the bulldozing and cultivation of these lands in preparation for its confiscation. This fund was established in 1901 as a non-profit Zionist organization for the purpose of collecting money from Jews in the world to purchase land in Palestine.
As the protests continued, the Israeli authorities announced a freeze on razing operations until a settlement is reached regarding the targeted lands, which have an area of 45,000 dunams.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Israeli police arrested 30 protesters in the Negev, during the clashes.
The arrest of a girl during the confrontations in Sa`wa al-Atrash today pic.twitter.com/a5bZUIjOGx
– Arab 48 website (@arab48website) January 12, 2022
We went back to stone throwing and arrest pic.twitter.com/9VxtRkxBTA
– Ilana curiel (@ilanacuriel) January 12, 2022
In the middle of the broadcast: Bedouins block and do not let our correspondent report from the field Watch https://t.co/p8qw9LXWD8 pic.twitter.com/OUBniaEAjQ
– Now 14 (@ Now14Israel) January 12, 2022
For its part, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous crime committed by the occupying power against the Palestinian Arab citizens of the Negev, their land and property.”
In a statement yesterday, Wednesday, the ministry denounced “the continuous operations of repression, abuse, and bulldozing of lands for the second day in a row.” And she considered that what is happening “is an extension of its (Israel) war on the Palestinian Arab presence.”
Tens of thousands of Bedouin Arabs reside in dozens of towns that Israel does not recognize in the Negev, depriving their residents of access to water, electricity, infrastructure, schools, and medical clinics.
The area of the Negev is about 14,000 square kilometers, and it is predominantly desert and inhabited historically by Arab clans, socially related to the tribes of Sinai, the Arabian Peninsula and Jordan.