Sheikh Sayyah Al Turi, the spokesperson of Al- Araqib village stated, " We have the right to stay on our land. We were 75 families. Look at us now! We ended up with a few families and the rest were forcibly displaced to small towns that are not even equipped for our Bedouin lifestyle or for a modern life."
The unrecognized village of Al Araqib was demolished and rebuilt 95 times between the years 1999 to 2016. Villages’ with unrecognized status according to the State of Israel means that the Bedouin families living in these villages face house demolition and denial of basic services such as state infrastructure including water, electricity, sewerage, roads, schools, and health care.
Abu Fahed who is originally from Beir Al Saba- Al Naqab said, “I have a birth certificate that says I was born in Jordan and a passport indicating I’m from the West Bank. One time, a soldier stopped me at the checkpoint and asked me where I was from. I said I didn’t know. I don’t know who I am anymore. He explained that he considers the Palestinian Bedouins as the Native Americans of Palestine. The Bedouin identity is about to be cleansed even while the Bedouin, through his tribal memory, resists.