Land Administration bulldozers demolished structures in the Bedouin village of al-Arakib for the ninth time on Sunday.
The village, located in the Negev region, is not recognized by the state. Bulldozers razed 11 makeshift structures that were built in the village illegally.
A few months ago five people were inured when police fired paint balls during clashes with al-Arakib residents. Three people were arrested.
On Sunday, Land Administration officials arrived at the village accompanied by police officers. Residents tried to disrupt the demolition work and clashed with police.
Five people sustained light injuries from pepper spray and paint balls fired by police during attempts to disperse the crowd. They were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
Police said it conducted and "organized removal of squatters. Paint balls and pepper spray were used against those who tried to disrupt the work by force and block the entrance of bulldozers."
Knesset Member Talab El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta'al )was among those who tried to prevent the demolition. "This is fascist-Nazi policy," he said. "The state is pushing its Bedouin citizens to the point where they may launch a popular intifada, which will have severe results.
Same place, another demolition (Photo: Roee Idan)
"What’s happening here is a gradual ethnic transfer of the Negev's Bedouins," said the MK.
Land Administration official Shlomo Tziser said the state was seeking a permanent solution to the al-Arakib issue. "Of course the demolition was carried out in accordance with a court order," he said.
Dr. Yunes Abu Rabiyeh of the Physicians for Human Rights organization said Israel's demolition policy is devastating to the health of the Negev's Arabs and Bedouins and only increases their sense of frustration and discrimination.
"The systematic destruction of homes in which citizens of Israel live constitutes a racist policy that violates basic human rights," he said.