Israeli bulldozers backed by police Tuesday destroyed dozens of gravestones in a Muslim cemetery in central Jerusalem and stormed a Bedouin village that was completely razed in July, levelling efforts to rebuild homes for the third time in two weeks. The Islamic Movement accused the municipality of destroying more than 200 Muslim graves that had been recently renovated in a centuries-old cemetery in west Jerusalem. “Last night occupation forces entered the cemetery and destroyed around 200 graves,” said Mahmud Abu Atta of the Al-Aqsa Foundation linked to the group, whose members are Arab citizens of Israel. He said the bulldozers returned later in the day to destroy dozens more after a Jerusalem court rejected a petition to halt the work. The spokesman for the municipality did not respond to several phone calls, and a police spokesman said he was looking into the incident. Meanwhile, a huge convoy of around 30 police vehicles stormed the village of Al-Araqib in Israel's southern Negev desert, the Negev Coexistence Forum said. The police immediately began destroying a group of tent-like structures which had been erected by villagers, which were destroyed on July 27 in a much bigger raid. “There were about 100 policemen with five or six bulldozers and lorries. They destroyed the village for the third time in two weeks,” said Haya Noah, head of the Negev Coexistence Forum. Two weeks ago, more than 1,000 police had raided the site and levelled 30 or 40 makeshift buildings which were home to around 300 Bedouin, uprooting hundreds of trees and carting off the villagers' possessions.
