Gazans hold vigil in solidarity with Palestinians in Al-Naqab against Israel’s bulldozing works

Besieged Gaza Strip (QNN)- Dozens of Gazans held on Friday a vigil in the Rafah city, in the southern Gaza strip, in solidarity with Palestinians in the Al-Naqab desert, who are facing Israeli threat of demolition and bulldozing works in their lands.

In spite of the heavy rain, a large demonstration was held in the Rafah city and organized by the Al-Tarabin Bedouin tribe in solidarity with their people in the Al-Naqab desert, south of the 1948-occupied Palestine, against Israel’s repeated bulldozing and demolition works in their lands.

قبيلة الترابين تنظم وقفة حاشدة في رفح جنوب قطاع غزة نصرةً لأهالي #النقب المحتل.#انقذوا_النقب pic.twitter.com/8NnNy1xUNX

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 14, 2022

For over three days, the Palestinians of the Al-Naqab desert have been protesting in several villages of the Al-Naqab.

The Higher Follow Up Committee of Arabs in the Naqab, a local umbrella body that represents Palestinians in the area, announced on Wednesday a general strike in response to Israel’s demolitions.

“We took the decision to undertake proactive measures, beginning with adopting a cumulative resistance programme over a period of six months that will lead to a regional general strike and a massive demonstration outside the prime minister’s office, and the internationalisation of the issue to expose the racist practices [of Israeli authorities] before international institutions,” the committee said in a statement.

The general strike was announced in villages facing the threat of Israeli demolition including al-Atrash, al-Sawa, al-Zarnouq, al-Ruwais, Beir Haddaj and Khirbet Watan.

However, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the Palestinian villages in the Al-Naqab desert and started violently attacking and arresting the peaceful protesters who gathered to denounce the demolition work. During three days, the forces arrested over 130 Palestinians.

The Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs directly and intensively towards the protesters to disperse them, resulting in the suffocation of dozens of them due to gas inhalation. They also used skunk water cannons to disperse the nonviolent protesters.

This all started on Sunday, when the Jewish National Fund (JNF) began several days of the so-called “planting trees” on disputed land in the Al-Naqab.

For over three days, the Israeli bulldozers carried out demolitions on lands of local Bedouins used for cultivation.

The forces closed off the villages and prevented the residents from entering their lands. Thus, the Palestinian residents moved their protests to the entrance of the villages.

The Israeli demolitions in al-Naqab are part of a controversial Israeli plan, led by the JNF, to plant trees in the region.

Last month, Israeli forces attacked Palestinians in six villages: al-Mashash, al-Zarnouq, Bier al-Hamam, al-Ruwais, al-Gharaa, and Khirbet Watan, destroying crops and excavating soil.

The JNF and the Israel Land Authority (ILA) were planning to plant hundreds of trees on lands from the six Bedouin villages, which had all received demolition orders and faced the displacement of thousands of residents “in the name of developing the area.”

‘Israel’ has used the forestation projects as a tactic for land grabs and to prevent Palestinians from returning to lands from which they have been displaced.

The residents say that such policies are an attempt to pressure them into being internally displaced despite Bedouins having lived on or near these lands prior to Israel’s establishment in 1948.

There are almost 100,000 Palestinians live in 35 Bedouin villages in the Al-Naqab and are all unrecognized by the Israeli occupation government who views the Bedouin residents of these villages as illegal squatters and does not provide them with basic services or infrastructure, including electricity, water, sewage systems, roads, schools or hospitals.

The Israeli occupation government considers those Palestinian villages “unrecognised,” and therefore they are under threat of demolition.