Israeli General calls for a repeat of 1948 massacre against Palestinians in Al-Naqab
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- An Israeli General has called for a repeat of the 1948 military massacre that resulted in Israel’s occupation of the Al-Naqab Desert and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Major General Yom-Tov Samiah, who served as commander of the Southern Zone in the Israeli occupation army during the Second Intifada, tweeted last Friday: “Operation ‘Yoav’ will soon return to liberate the Al-Naqab. Luckily General Shaike Gavish, who led the operation at the time is alive. He will pass on some lessons.”
“If we continue at this rate of loss of control we will have to retake the Al-Naqab and Galilee. Civil war is on the doorstep,” added the Israeli General.
בקרוב שיחזור מבצע יואב לשחרור הנגב. מזל שהאלוף שייקה גביש עדיין חי, יעביר לקחים. אם נמשיך בקצב הזה של אובדן שליטה נצטרך להשתלט מחדש על הנגב והגליל. מלחמת אזרחים בפתח וכולם מתעסקים עם פאקקטה אומיקרון pic.twitter.com/Rjv1BH4PrA
— יום טוב סמיה (@YomTovSamia) January 14, 2022
Operation Yoav was one of the two large-scale operations launched by the occupation forces in October 1948 during the Nakba, several months after the official establishment of the occupation state of ‘Israel’, which opened a road to the Al-Naqab Desert, when 23 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed and their populations made refugees in Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza.
The Israeli General remarks came after over two weeks of protests against Israel’s repeated demolition and bulldozing works in the Al-Naqab lands.
About a week ago, hundreds of peaceful Palestinians took part in a large demonstration in several villages of the Al-Naqab against Israel’s demolition and bulldozing works in their lands.
The Higher Follow Up Committee of Arabs in the Naqab, a local umbrella body that represents Palestinians in the area, announced a general strike in response to the Israeli 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.
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.
Israeli occupation forces attacked peaceful Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Israeli apartheid in the village of Al-Atrash in the Al-Naqb desert, south of 1948-occupied Palestine. pic.twitter.com/0YwWiqnCUZ
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2022
Watch | Israeli occupation forces use skunk water cannons and tear gas canisters to disperse nonviolent Palestinian protesters in the village of Al-Atrash in the Al-Naqab desert, according to local sources. pic.twitter.com/7YZQ17zj50
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2022
Watch | Israeli occupation forces brutally detain a female Palestinian protester demonstrating against Israeli apartheid in the village of Al-Atrash in the Al-Naqb desert, south of 1948-occupied Palestine, according to local sources. #SaveNegev pic.twitter.com/o7tzJfOvNj
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2022
This all started on January 9, 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.
