"This is my land. I was born here, so were my children and grandchildren. My father and grandfather are buried here, and I too will die here," said Ismail Mohammad Abu-Mdir, an Al-Araqib resident who attended the demonstration.

Abu-Mdir said that since the last evacuation several weeks ago, dozens of the residents have been relocated to temporary lodgings in the village's graveyard.

"We moved into a simple structure in the graveyard, made out of fabric and wood, because people are tired from rebuilding their homes after every demolition. Nowadays some 150 people live there with no protection from the winter rains," he said.

In July 2011, an ILA official said that "Our position is that they are cynically using the situation for public relations, because they want to keep the land. All of them have houses in the Bedouin village of Rahat."

In reply to the court decision ruling that the land does not belong to the Bedouins, Abu-Mdir said that he does not feel like an equal citizen in Israel.

"People talk about equality and democracy, but I don't see it. After all, if we were Jewish the state would have already paved roads to our village and supplied us with food and shelter," he said.