Just seven meters from the master plan Israel plans for the Negev desert villages, dozens of Palestinian families live in the village of Laqiya, which Israel refuses to recognize in the Negev, where residents are deprived of the lowest municipal services and prohibited from renovating their 45-year-old homes. .

In an attempt to force people to forcibly emigrate, or to relinquish their land, 30 families in the village of Laqiya, mostly from the Abu Mteir and Zabarqa families, received orders to demolish their homes, after inspectors stormed planning and building laws and troops from the unit. “Yoav” affiliated to the Negev Development Authority, the village of Laqiya on August 20, and warning Palestinians to evacuate.

Judicial battle

The families of Abu Mteir and Zabarqa live in the village of Laqiya before the Nakba, and they have the identification documents confirming their ownership of the lands they live in. However, Israel does not recognize their village, prompting the residents to fight a legal battle in the corridors of Israeli courts for many years, to obtain recognition of the neighborhood, and to avoid the risk of displacement. But the Israeli authorities preceded the time to stop this battle in their own way, warning them of evacuation and demolition.

Former Israeli Arab Knesset member Khaled al-Zabarqa, one of the families who received the demolition orders, said he and his sons and family members, “Israel is fighting against the families in the village of Laqiya, a campaign of displacement and demolition in the face of the judicial battle we are engaged in, and expedite the process of annexation of land We have control of it, and the Israeli forces storming the neighborhood to hand over the demolition decisions, was not based on a clear legal or local argument. ”

He adds that `` the Israeli authorities are trying to force us to cede our land, because of the continued judicial struggle within the Israeli courts, and its demand to recognize our village, where he exploited the suffocating population crisis resulting from the prevention of restoration and construction in the village, in order to push the people to give up their claims to their land. ''

The Zabarqa in an interview with «Emirates Today», «that all houses threatened with demolition is not new construction, and erected for decades, a number of which was established 45 years ago, the least built 30 years ago, and located within the borders of the village of Laqiya, only seven meters .

He explained that these houses have the full right to be part of the structural plan for the villages of the Negev, where they have the readiness to plan, recognize and annex, adding, "The threat of demolition of houses in the village and the displacement of the people are retaliatory motives to control the area we have lived for decades."

Stuck to the right

Despite the Israeli efforts to displace the families of the village of Laqiya and the demolition of their homes, but they uphold their right to the lands of parents and grandparents, stressing that they will not give up their land where they have been since the pre-Nakba.

"Despite the demolition decisions, families will not leave their homes for decades," said Haji Ismail Abu Mteir, who has received a decision to demolish his house, which he inherited from his father.

"I was born in the village of Laqiya, where I lived with my father and grandfather, and I still live there today, my children and grandchildren. This is the biggest proof of our ownership of the land that has embraced us. We also have papers and documents proving our ownership of our land."

He explains that what Israel is doing is a political and personal pursuit of the families of Laqiya, to force us to leave the land or cede ownership.

While blocking the families of the village of Laqiya from building on their land, according to Abu Mutair, Israel is building huge plans and projects on the lands of the village it previously controlled, and established the settlement of Kermit, in addition to the construction of Road No. 6 settlement.

All of the houses threatened with demolition are not new, and have been built for decades. A number of them were built 45 years ago, the least of which was built 30 years ago. They are located within the borders of the village of Laqiya, just seven meters away.