Clashes erupt over Israeli demolitions in Bedouin village

Fresh scuffles have broken out over the Israeli demolition of homes in a Bedouin village in the occupied Palestinian territories after earlier clashes left two people dead.

The al-Aqsa TV channel reported that Israeli bulldozers razed 10 Palestinian houses in the village of Umm al-Hayran in the Negev desert on Wednesday.

The raids sparked clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, with witnesses saying the regime soldiers prevented members of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and Palestinian activists from entering the village.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said one of the homes destroyed belonged to Yaqoub Abu al-Qian, who was killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday morning.

Israelis claimed Qian rammed Israeli officers with his vehicle and left an officer dead.

However, village activist Raed Abu al-Qiyan described the Israeli narrative as "a lie."

Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, was also injured during Wednesday’s confrontation. Odeh’s spokeswoman said he was hit by two rubber-tipped bullets fired by Israeli police.

Several groups have called for mass protests in condemnation of the Israeli raids on Umm al-Hayran.

The village has some 1,000 inhabitants who mainly live in small, concrete buildings. The Israeli Supreme Court has rejected a local Bedouin tribe’s right to the land.

Stepped-up aggression against ‘Palestinian existence’ 

Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary General Saeb Erekat denounced Wednesday’s raid as a “crime” committed by the Israeli authorities.

He further called for an “urgent international intervention” and stressed that the international community’s silence towards Israel's actions only emboldens Tel Aviv to commit more crimes.

Additionally, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry also released a statement, saying the Israeli regime has “escalated its aggression against Palestinian existence by conducting daily attacks and field executions… in an attempt to escape its internal crises."

Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Palestinian homes, claiming that they are built illegally.

International bodies and rights groups say Israel’s sustained demolitions of Palestinian homes are an attempt to uproot Palestinians from their native territories, and expropriate more land for the expansion of illegal settlements.

Israeli forces have demolished over 48,000 Palestinian homes and buildings since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

In December last year, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 that denounced the Israeli settlements as a “flagrant violation of international law.”

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