Zionist’s planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar village war crime

Amnesty International has censured Israel’s plans to demolish a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank and forcibly transfer its residents as the Tel Aviv regime presses ahead with its land expropriation policies in the occupied territories irrespective of great international outcry.

“After nearly a decade of trying to fight the injustice of this demolition, the residents of Khan al-Ahmar now approach the devastating day when they will see their home of generations torn down before their eyes,” Saleh Higazi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said.

He added, “This act is not only heartless and discriminatory; it is illegal. The forcible transfer of the Khan al-Ahmar community amounts to a war crime. Israel must end its policy of destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods to make way for settlements.”

Some 180 residents of Khan-al Ahmar village face being forcibly evicted and transferred by the Israeli army.

Israeli authorities have reportedly offered the villagers a choice of two possible destinations: a site near the former Jerusalem al-Quds municipal garbage dump, near the village of Abu Dis, or a site in the vicinity of a sewage plant close to the city of Ariha (Jericho).

Israel’s Supreme Court has twice ruled in favor of demolishing the entire village of Khan al-Ahmar, first on May 24 and again on September 5 this year.

The demolition order includes the village’s school, which is constructed from rubber tires and provides education for some 170 children from five different Bedouin communities.

Israeli officials allege that Palestinian structures there have been built without the relevant building permits and pose a threat to residents because of their proximity to a highway.