Ethnic cleaning of the village of Al-Sirr in Naqab/ Al-Naqab (Palestine 48)
Al-Sirr, al-Naqab, Palestine/Israel
On the beginning of May 2025, the village of Al-Sirr, located in the Naqab (Negev) region, has experienced large-scale demolition operations carried out by Israeli occupation bulldozers.
Al-Sirr, also known as Qasr al-Sir (Arabic: قصر السر), (The village appears in English sources under several spellings: Al-Sirr / Al-Sir / Al-Serr / Qasr al-Sir) is a Bedouin village located in the Negev desert of southern Israel, approximately 3 kilometers west of Dimona and adjacent to Highway 25. The village covers an area of 4,776 dunams (approximately 4.776 km²) and had a population of 2,867 as of 2022.
Timelines of events
On August 18, 2025, Israeli authorities demolished homes belonging to the Abu Jadoua family and facilities belonging to the Nasayra family in the unrecognized village of Al-Sir, acted to continue large-scale demolitions, targeting dozens more inhabited homes in the area.
On September 17, 2025, early in the morning a large number of Israeli l forces, accompanied by heavy bulldozers, are storming Al-Sir village to carry out demolition orders against Palestinian-owned homes and shops. Israeli authorities and Police and bulldozers razed ~40 structures. Footage shows bulldozers uprooting olive trees in the village. Clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinian residents protesting the demolition of homes in Al-Sir village in occupied Al-Naqab. Bedouin residents burned down several houses in protest against the demolition orders set to be carried out by Israeli forces in the morning.
The ethnic cleansing pattern
Apartheid by infrastructure isolation
Despite being officially recognized by the Israeli government in 1999, Al-Sirr faces significant infrastructural challenges. The village lacks connection to the national electricity grid, water system, and waste removal services. Residents rely on solar panels for electricity and must pipe water from a connection point on the main water pipe. Additionally, most roads in the village remain unpaved.
Demolition pressure on the Bedouin community
In November 2023, Israeli demolition vehicles began tearing down 18 homes belonging to the al-Walidi family in al-Sirr. This action is part of broader policies affecting Bedouin communities in the Negev, where many villages, including al-Sirr, face threats of demolition and displacement due to lack of formal planning and infrastructure.
Since the start of the Netanyahu government, over 5,000 homes and facilities in the Negev have been demolished. In 2024 alone, over 4,000 Bedouin structures were destroyed, part of a demolition surge of 400% linked to state plans for Jewish settlement expansion and military-industrial projects in the south. The campaign targets the displacement of residents from 38 unrecognized villages, affecting around 90,000 people, to confine them to recognized towns and pave the way for new colonial settlements.
Despite longstanding ancestral ties, these communities remain excluded from national planning schemes, leaving them without electricity, water, or infrastructure.
Geographical and political issues
The Negev (النقب in Arabic, הנגב in Hebrew) is a vast desert region located in southern Israel, covering about 60% of Israel’s territory.
It`s fully under Israeli administration since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. It is considered by Israel—and widely recognized internationally—as sovereign Israeli territory (unlike the West Bank, Gaza, or East Jerusalem, which the UN considers occupied territories). The Naqab is not considered a “disputed territory” in UN resolutions, but Bedouin land rights and forced relocation policies have drawn strong criticism from human rights organizations.
Population: Mostly Jewish in the cities (Beer-Sheva, Dimona, Eilat), but also home to a significant Arab Bedouin population, some of whom live in unrecognized villages facing land disputes and forced evictions.
Israeli government development and industrial projects in the area have created tensions with local Bedouin communities.
So, from the standpoint of international law, the Naqab is part of Israel (not under military occupation), but there is an internal dispute over land use and Bedouin rights.
*A slow Nakbah
On March 2025, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, fiiled a motion for the Israel’s Supreme Court challenging the forced eviction of over 500 Palestinian citizens from the Bedouin village of Ras Jrabah in the Naqab to expand the Jewish city of Dimona. They argue the displacement constitutes racial segregation and violates Israeli constitutional and international law. Residents, members of the Al-Hawashleh tribe who have lived on the land for generations, offered to be integrated into Dimona, but authorities insist on relocating them to Qasr al-Sirr, a Bedouin-only town. Adalah and Bimkom proposed alternatives to incorporate Ras Jrabah into Dimona, but these were rejected. Critics say the refusal to consider alternatives exposes a discriminatory agenda tied to Israel’s broader policy of land appropriation and forced displacement. Adalah warned that the plan reflects the 2018 “Jewish Nation-State Law,” which prioritizes Jewish colonization and entrenches systemic inequality.
This occurred 2 months before the village of Al-Sirr was under demolition order.
Related:
Israel demolishes seven homes in Al-Serr village in the Naqab
The land is ours`: Bedouin village fights forced removal in Israel`s top court
Israeli Authorities Demolish Homes in Negev Bedouin Village
News Israel escalates ethnic cleansing in Negev: 25 homes demolished, others set on fire
Self-demolition under threat: the danger of complete evacuation looms over the village of Al-Sarr
Related videos
While some Israeli bulldozers demolish houses, others uproot trees in the village of Al-Sirr
Destruction of Al-Sirr : homes troched in protest. Police responded with tear gas and smoke grenades
Israeli bulldozers continue to demolish homes in the village of Al-Sir in the Naqab (Palestine 48)
Israeli bulldozers demolish Palestinian residents’ homes in the village of Al-Sirr (Palestine 48)
Massive destruction caused by Israeli authorities in the village of Al-Sir (Palestine 48)
Drone footage of the large-scale destruction caused by Israeli authorities in the village of Al-Sirr
Israeli police accompanied by heavy bulldozers, are storming Al-Sir village in occupied Al-Naqab
17 September 2025
Photo on frontpage: A Palestinian Bedouin woman screams as she watches Israeli police raze her village, al-Sir, in southern Israel, on 17 September 2025. Source: Oren Ziv/MEE. Photo on this page: Aerial view of al-Sirr village after Israeli forced demolished it. Source: al-Jarmaq/Genocide.live.
