text: "http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/07/the-summer-camp-of-destruction-israeli-high-schoolers-join-in-the-destructionrof-a-bedouin-town/1The ""Summer Camp Of Destruction:"" Israeli High SchoolersAssist The Razing Of A Bedouin TownOn 07.31.10 By Max BlumenthalAL-ARAKIB ISRAEL — On July 26 Israeli police demolished 45 buildings in the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Arakib razing the entire village to the ground to make way for a Jewish National Fund forest. The destruction was part ofa larger project to force the Bedouin community of the Negev away from their ancestral lands and into seven Indianreservation-style communities the Israeli government has constructed for them. The land will then be open for Jewishsettlers including young couples in the army and those who may someday be evacuated from the West Bank after apeace treaty is signed. For now the Israeli government intends to uproot as many villages as possible and erase themfrom the map by establishing ""facts on the ground"" in the form of JNF forests. (See video of of al-Arakib'sdemolition here).Moments before the destruction of the Bedouin village of al-Arakib Israeli high school age police volunteers lounge onfurniture taken from a family's home. [The following four photos are by Ata Abu Madyam of Arab Negev News.One of the most troubling aspects of the destruction of al-Arakib was a report by CNN that the hundreds of Israeli riotpolice who stormed the village were accompanied by ""busloads of cheering civilians."" Who were these civilians and whydidn't CNN or any outlet investigate further?I traveled to al-Arakib yesterday with a delegation from Ta'ayush an Israeli group that promotes a joint Arab-Jewishstruggle against the occupation. The activists spent the day preparing games and activities for the village's traumatizedchildren helping the villagers replace their uprooted olive groves and assisting in the reconstruction of their demolishedhomes. In a massive makeshift tent where many of al-Arakib's residents now sleep I interviewed village leaders about theidentity of the cheering civilians. Each one confirmed the presence of the civilians describing how they celebrated thedemolitions. As I compiled details the story grew increasingly horrific. After interviewing more than a half dozen 'elders ofthe village I was able to finally identify the civilians in question. What I discovered was more disturbing than I hadima. med.Israeli police youth volunteers pick through the belongings an al-Arakib familyArab Negev News publisher Ata Abu Madyam supplied me with a series of photos he took of the civilians in action. Theydepicted Israeli high school students who appeared to have volunteered as members of the Israeli police civilian guard (I'am working on identifying some participants by name). Prior to the demolitions the student volunteers were sent into thevillagers' homes to extract their furniture and belongings. A number of villagers including Madyam told me the volunteerssmashed windows and mirrors in their homes and defaced family photographs with crude drawings. Then they loungedaround on the furniture of al-Arakib residents in plain site of the owners. Finally according to Matyam the volunteerscelebrated while bulldozers destroyed the homes.""What we learned from the summer camp of destruction"" Madyam remarked ""is that Israeli youth are not being educatedon democracy they are being raised on racism."" (The cover of the latest issue of Madyam's Arab Negev News features aphoto of Palestinians being expelled to Jordan in 1948 juxtaposed with a photo of a family fleeing al-Arakib last week. Theheadline reads ""Nakba 2010."")0According to residents of al-Arakib the youth volunteers vandalized homes throughout the villageThe Israeli civilian guard which incorporates 70000 citizens including youth as young as 15 (about 15% of Israeli policevolunteers are teenagers) is one of many programs designed to incorporate Israeli children into the state's militaryapparatus. It is not hard to imagine what lessons the high school students who participated in the leveling of al-Arakib tookfrom their experience nor is it especially difficult to predict what sort of citizens they will become once they reach'adulthood. Not only are they being indoctrinated to swear blind allegiance to the military they are learning to treat theArab outclass as less than human. The volunteers' behavior toward Bedouins who are citizens of Israel and serve loyallyin Israeli army combat units despite widespread racism was strikingly reminiscent of the behavior of settler youth inHebron who pelt Palestinian shopkeepers in the old city with eggs rocks and human waste. If there is a distinctionbetween the two cases it is that the Hebron settlers act as vigilantes while the teenagers of Israeli civilian guard vandalizeArab property as agents of the state.The spectacle of Israeli youth helping destroy al-Arakib helps explain why 56% of Jewish Israeli high school students donot believe Arabs should be allowed to serve in the Knesset — why the next generation wants apartheid. Indeed thewidespread indoctrination of Israeli youth by the military apparatus is a central factor in Israel's authoritarian trend. Itwould be difficult for any adolescent boy to escape from an experience like al-Arakib where adults in heroic warror garbencoura e him to articipate in and gloat over acts of massive destruction with even a trace of democratic values.Youth volunteers extract belongings from village homes as bulldozers move inAs for the present condition of Israeli democracy it is essential to consider the way in which the state pits its own citizensagainst one another enlisting the Jewish majority as conquerers while targeting the Arab others as in the wordsI of Zionistfounding father Chaim Weizmann ""obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path."" Historically only failing stateshave encouraged such corrosive dynamics to take hold. That is why the scenes from al-Arakib from the demolishedhomes to the uprooted gardens to the grinning teens who joined the mayhem can be viewed as much more than thedestruction of a village. They are snapshots of the phenomenon that is laying Israeli society as a whole to waste0...and the destruction begins"