Palestinian villagers have addressed the Guinness Book of World Records to register a ruinous “record”. A Bedouin village in “Israel” has been demolished 38 times by Israeli authorities, who say people in the village do not have building permits. Al-Araqeeb village with population of 500 residents in the Negev declared that some 40 homes have been destroyed over three dozen times by “Israel” Land Administration. Residents of the al-Turi Arab Bedouin tribe said they are being pushed off their own land. “We have ownership documents that go back to the Ottoman era,” the head of the Committee for the Defence of al-Araqeeb, Awad Abu Farih, said.
The residents believe that the village’s centuries-old cemetery could serve as strong evidence of their historic rights. Despite the unceasing governmental acts of destruction, the villagers remain firm and full of self-righteous belief, continuing to resist Israeli authorities. “Every time they demolish our houses, we rebuild them and we will keep doing that even if the demolitions reach 99. We will never leave our land,” Abu Farih said. Since they cannot expect assistance from anywhere else, the villagers are considering an official address to the Guinness Book of World Records to draw international attention to their case.