Al Araqib

Journeys in the Negev is a joint project of Standing Together and MachsomWatch. Its goal is to report and publish Israel government policy which is intended to drive Bedouin citizens from their land and to concentrate them in Government sponsored townships, poorly resourced and over crowded as they already are.  It is intended that the visits to unrecognized (and also recognized) village will encourage citizens of the Negev to oppose policy by civil activism. this policy is not new, but a continuation of a policy that has been going on for 70 years

Al Araqib lies just west of Highway 40,  the main highway between Beersheva and the centre of the country.  Amos Gvirtz has published a short history of the village which is reproduced here in full,since it is important to understand the background to the current plight of Al Araqib, which since 2010 has been demolished no less than 150 times despite the villagers' land claims that are still before the courts.   

"In 1905 Sheikh Sayyakh’s great-grandfather purchased a plot of land from the then owners, the Al-Ukbi tribe from the Al-Araqeeb area in the Negev, and the deed of sale is in Sheikh Sayyach’s possession. The members of his tribe, Al-Tori, settled on this land and in 1914 began to bury their dead in a small section of the area.

In 1952 the Military Governor of the area gave the sheikh of that time orders to evacuate the tribe “for their own safety”, pending planned military manoeuvres in the area, with the assurance that they would be able to return after half a year. However, when they did request permission to return, they were told that they could do so only on condition that they lease the land - the land that belonged to them - from the state. Why should they lease their own land from the state?! The answer lies in the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 that determined that areas of land that were not in use for a period defined in the law, would be transferred to the ownership of the state. So, through military power and arbitrary and draconian legislation, the state was able to effectively steal the land in question.

After some time, the residents came back to resettle their village, to which the state responded by destroying their crops and demolishing their homes. In 2010 the state demolished the entire village for the first time. Since then they have demolished it more than 150 times.

If we, the privileged, are robbed, we complain to the police who send their officers to arrest the culprit, who is then tried and sentenced by a judge for the crime he has committed. This is the significance of a properly functioning legal system that depends on compliance with and enforcement of the law.

But what happens when the state invades and steals the land of undesirable citizens? Here ways have already been found to pass laws such as the Lands Acquisition Law of 1953 which uses neutral language and, unlike the racist laws of Nuremberg, the American South and apartheid South Africa, does not disclose its real aim, which is to transfer lands from Arabs to Jews and to legalize land theft. History has taught us a lesson.

It is worthwhile noting that before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, only 7 – 8% of the land was in Jewish hands, while today that figure stands at 96%. As we know, the Palestinians did not voluntarily surrender their lands to the state, but they were forcibly seized from them, aided by laws which legitimized widespread land theft.

Sheikh Sayyach and his people are amongst the few who have not yet capitulated and who, in the name of justice, continue to fight for their right to own and live on their land. They are opposed by the State of Israel, who dispatches its police officers and judges, in the name of the law, to enforce its unjust laws on those who are fighting for justice.

And so, Sheikh Sayyakh and his people are criminals in the eyes of the State of Israel, and are treated as such. I dub this criminalization of the victim. But when one considers this in the light of morality or justice, the State of Israel is the criminal who has stolen the land that belongs to the Sheikh and his people.

We, as human rights and coexistence activists, will not allow our Jewish and Israeli identities to cloud our moral judgement and we have therefore chosen to stand behind the victims. We believe that the enforcement of land-grabbing laws is the real crime!"

Snait Gissis points out that prior to 1948 the village occupied more fertile lands but were then moved by the military to this very site where they are accused of invading.

When we visited the remains of the village we found several residents and visitors sitting wearily in the shade of the cemetery fence and a few sorry-looking trees, all drooping in the heat. During the last few days (week of August 11 and the Feat of the Sacrifice) there have been frequent police raids, although there is not much left to demolish there have been arbitrary arrests and harrassment and there is great tension in the expectation of more police invasions.  Very few of the original residents still live on site, but a few cling on under the most difficult conditions: no water, no buildings, no sanitation.  Members of the A-Turi family sleep in a van inside the cemetery perimeter.Nonetheless, they have not given up the struggle: A non-violent protest vigil is held each Sunday afternoon at the Lahavim crossroads (a major junction on Route 40) and the court case will continue in the coming year.

Expert witnesses on behalf of the village have testified at length in court and include: Professor Oren Yiftachel (University Ben Gurion of the Negev) and Professor Gadi Algazi of Tel- Aviv University. Attorney Michael Sfard is among the defending Counsel.