last seven months has had a particularly severe impact on the lives of the Bedouins in al-Araqib.137 Those who remain are fighting desperately to hold on to their land. Testimony “I am from the Touri tribe in al-Araqib. I’m 74 years old and married with 17 children. They’re all married and have their own children except for one boy and one girl. My children are living everywhere; we aren’t living together in al-Araqib anymore. After the misery Israel caused this village, most of them took their families and went to live in one of the nearby cities, but some of my children still live in al-Araqib. They have to wake up in the morning and go to Rahat for school or work but they come back and sleep here in al-Araqib. In my case, I never left al-Araqib, only to go to the Israeli courts or police station [for the court cases about the land]. This is our land and this is our battle over our land, they want to displace us from our land and make us refugees. We refuse to leave; this is our land, our fathers’ land and our grandfathers’ land. Israel wants us to leave and go to Rahat or Hura or any of those townships in the Naqab. But we want to stay in our land, and we won’t let go of al-Araqib. Israel would do anything to force us to leave. They told us in 2009 that they are ready to give us money or give us another piece of land somewhere else, but only if we leave al-Araqib. Of course, we refused, we don’t want money - we want our land. We saw what happened with the Bedouins who agreed to leave in exchange for another piece of land. They were fooled, Israel made them pay for the other land as if they were renting it and after few years the Israelis told them to leave and look for another place, that the lease period had finished. We have never received a demolition order; the demolitions always happen suddenly, without us knowing about it. In 26 July 2010, we were surprised to find Israelis surrounding us from all sides. It felt like they were invading Syria or Egypt. At 3 am on 27 July 2010, it started. There were many different units; border control, police, commando, air force unit … there was also a field prison and a field clinic. Flash bombs lit the whole area from the highway to the entrance of the village. The Israelis didn’t respect anyone. They humiliated everyone, the elders, children and women. They forced everyone out of their homes and tents in 137 Between 23 July 2016 and 23 February 2017, al-Araqib was demolished nine times. The last demolition before the interview, on 8 February 2017, was the 109th demolition. Data collected by BADIL from different media sources. 47