Palestine: Demolishing Khan al-Ahmar

Khan al-Ahmar is situated a few kilometres from Jerusalem between two major illegal Israeli settlements, Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim, which the Israeli government wants to expand.

Israeli authorities aim to expel 10,000 Bedouin residents from the E1 Zone, 15-square kilometres land within East Jerusalem, to make way for a series of new Jewish-only residential units linking Jerusalem to the illegal settlements, thereby cutting the West Bank into two. 

A green light was given by Israeli authorities for the military to demolish Khan al-Ahmar and evict its 180 residents.

As of September 14, the Israeli military shut down all roads leading to Khan al-Ahmar.

All petitons to reverse the demolition order have been rejected by Israel’s top court, affirming Israeli authorities’ statements that the village was built without permits. 

Palestinians say the required building permits are impossible to obtain.

The villagers are members of the Bedouin Jahalin tribe that was expelled from their lands in the Naqab (Negev) desert by the Israeli military in the 1950s. They were displaced twice more before they settled in Khan al-Ahmar, long before the illegal settlements around it existed.

The small community of 40 families lives in tents and shacks on what is classified by the 1993 Oslo Accords as Area C, which accounts for 60 percent of the West Bank and is under total Israeli administrative and security control.