National Guard fighters manning checkpoints at entrance to Bedouin town as cops continue raid

Security forces are checking the identity cards of all those who enter or leave Tarabin al-Sana, as part of a raid on the Bedouin town that has been underway for three days now.

Officers in the National Guard, a controversial Border Police force that came into being under National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have placed cinderblocks at the entrance to the village.

Drivers form a line as they wait to undergo a security inspection at the ad hoc checkpoint. A National Guard officer tells a driver exiting the town that they are obligated to identify each person who passes through.

Yesterday, police announced that the National Guard would take over responsibility for the ongoing raid in Tarabin al-Sana, which began Monday, when hundreds of officers and Border Police fighters entered the town.

Police have been cracking down on Bedouin locales throughout the Negev over the past month, as part of an anti-crime operation that Ben Gvir declared in November. The operation aims to stem violent crime, arms trafficking and traffic violations among southern Israel’s Bedouin population.

Residents have bemoaned law enforcement’s new practice of erecting haphazard checkpoints at the entrances to towns, saying the roadblocks cause hours-long traffic jams. Police have erected such checkpoints in Tarabin al-Sana, Lakiya and Tel Sheva so far.

Rahat mayor Talal Alkernawi, who currently serves as the head of an umbrella organization for Negev Bedouin towns, says he intends to take legal action against the practice by petitioning the High Court of Justice to intervene.

While such roadblocks are often erected at the entrances to Palestinian towns in the West Bank and East Jerusalem neighborhoods, the practice has seldom been used against Israeli citizens until November this year.