Israel is basking in the glow of yet another effective public opinion campaign, but this time rather than brutalizing the Palestinians it is the Bedouins turn.

“Israeli authorities have demolished the homes of about 300 Bedouins in a village in the southern Negev desert.
The entire village of al-Arakib was bulldozed on Tuesday, with many of the former residents’ cattle, trees and belongings lost.”

I wonder what would happen if the Palestinians decided to bulldoze an illegal Jewish settlement?

“Haia Noach, director of the Negev Co-existence Forum, was present at al-Arakib during the demolition and said that at least five Israeli bulldozers arrived around 5:30am (0230GMT).

“It took them about three or four hours to destroy all the houses,” she said, describing the scene as “appalling.”Scuffles erupted as the villagers and around 150 rights activists tried to stop the police from carrying out the demolitions, with several people wounded and a handful arrested, activists said.”

At least no one tried to get in front of a bulldozer.

“Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld confirmed the early-morning operation, saying the homes had been “illegally built” and were destroyed in line with a court ruling issued 11 years ago which was never implemented.

Around 30 shacks were removed and several hundred people were taken back to the Rahat area where they originally came from,” he said, referring to a nearby Bedouin town in Israel’s arid south.”

Well at least they deported them back to where they came from.  No mention of compensation or any sort of help from the government, just the police and the ‘dozers.  How nice.

“Noach said Israeli authorities had first given residents of al-Arakib a notice to evacaute on June 15, but that no action had followed, so the residents began to doubt that the demolition would occur.

But this morning, Israeli police arrived and forced residents to leave their homes within minutes, Noach said.
The demolition team destroyed water tanks and removed generators.

“It’s like a declaration of war. They don’t want you here,” Noach said. “It’s unthinkable.”

Unthinkable is in the eye of who is behind the bulldozer.  Is this issue as cut and dried as just the courts taking 11 years to get moving on a decision?  Where there other motivations present, did this group of Bedouins piss off the wrong people?  Just speculation of course, but I would not be surprised if there were other less savoury aspects to this story.

Israeli continues withe bulldoze first and answer no questions later policy, although full marks to them for not contravening international law on this one.