Israeli settlers, backed by forces, install caravans on Palestinian lands in Al-Naqab
Al-Naqab (QNN)- Extremist Israeli settlers, backed by well-armed forces, stormed on Wednesday morning lands in al-Zayadna area in Rahat city, in the Al-Naqab Desert, and installed several caravans in an attempt to confiscate it.
Local sources said over 40 extremist Israeli settlers stormed lands in the al-Zayadna area in the early morning hours and installed several caravans, setting up a new illegal settlement outpost which they have called ”Ma’aleh Paula.”
Israeli newspaper Haaretz said this came as the settlers are looking to pressure the occupation authorities on Bedouin construction in the Al-Naqab.
Israeli colonial settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, installed illegal tents on the lands of Zaydna area in Rahat city, south of 1948-occupied Palestine, in an attempt to seize it. #EndIsraeliApartheid pic.twitter.com/YY4rZMMPIG
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 9, 2022
Far-right Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived in the area hours later. Ben-Gvir was seen armed and threatening residents of the area, saying, “This is our land.. we will send you to Syria.”
Watch | "We will send you to Syria!", Far-right Israeli politician and legislator Itamar Ben-Gvir said to indigenous Palestinians in Rahat city in Al-Naqab after the Israeli colonial settlers installed tents, attempting to confiscate Palestinian-owned lands. #EndIsraeliApartheid pic.twitter.com/7XQL8MTjnf
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 9, 2022
Later, under the occupation forces protection, the settlers’ number reached 80, according to local residents.
The forces then prevented the Palestinians from entering the area and allowed the settlers to continue installing the caravans and provoking the residents.
However, the residents of the area and nearby villages confronted the settlers and forced the occupation authorities to remove the caravans, preventing them from continuing the setting up of the illegal outspot.
Indigenous Palestinians confronted and prevented Israeli colonial settlers, backed by the IOF, from installing caravans on the lands of Zaydna area in Rahat city, south of 1948-occupied Palestine, in an attempt to confiscate it. #EndIsraeliApartheid pic.twitter.com/yFt1Ggzjbz
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 9, 2022
بضغطٍ من أهالي القرية.. #شاهد هدم البيوت المؤقتة التي بناها المستوطنون على أراضي قرية الزيادنة صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/cgfxXts1sJ
— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) February 9, 2022
Translation: With residents’ pressure on the occupation authorities, forces remove the caravans installed by settlers earlier today on lands in al-Zayadna area.
Lately, the Al-Naqab Desert villages have been under the Israeli threat of demolition and bulldozing works.
About four weeks ago, for over three days, hundreds of peaceful Palestinians took part in large demonstrations 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, also 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.
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.
During and following the protests, Israeli forces arrested over 140 Palestinians from the Al-Naqab, including minors.
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.
