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Israel faced growing international condemnation on Thursday as security forces continued preparations to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.
Locals and activists climbed on bulldozers on Wednesday
In a statement posted on Twitter, the office of Nikolay Mladenov, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that Israeli security forces dragged protesters and residents. the proposed demolition was contrary to international law and urged Israel to stop.
The European Union also condemned the actions of Israel in a statement Thursday.
She said that Israel's actions and plans to build more illegal settlements in the same region undermined the hope of a two-state solution and a viable peace .
"In accordance with our long-standing position on Israel's settlement policy, illegal international law and measures taken in this context, such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of housing, are the only way to prevent illegal settlements. It expects the Israeli authorities to renounce these decisions and fully fulfill their obligations as occupying Power under international humanitarian law. "
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the PLO Executive Committee, condemned the imminent plans of the Israeli army to shave Khan al-Ahmar and urged the international community to act.
"The protection of Palestinian families and the forced transfer of our indigenous population to a state of Homelessness and despair is totally unacceptable, "said Ashrawi.
" We call on the Israeli government to immediately cancel its illegal plans to demolish e Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar. "19659002" "The fact that Israel wants to demolish a whole village where its inhabitants reside for fifty years For the sole purpose of expanding the illegal settlement Kfar Adumim in the West Bank is outrageous and inhumane. "
The Palestine Red Crescent reports that 35 people were injured and four were taken to hospital.
Israeli Defense Group B & Tselem said nine people were arrested – five of the village and four others, including the chief of field research.
JCB, CAT, and Liugong brand construction equipment badembled to demolish the village (Reuters)
Police reported two arrests and stones were thrown at the officers
a warrant to the 173 residents of Khan al-Ahmar Tuesday, giving him permission to seize the roads to the village.
Heavy equipment was seen in the area on Wednesday, suggesting that a road was being prepared to facilitate the evacuation of the village and demolition.
Images were showing bulldozers and other equipment. heavy construction parked just Outside the village
"Today, they are doing infrastructure work to facilitate the demo. Amit Gilutz, spokesman for B & Tselem, told AFP
that Israel intends to demolish the village under the E1 plan, which involves build hundreds of settlement units to link settlements. of Kfar Adumim and Ma'Adumim with East Jerusalem in Zone C of the West Bank controlled by the Israelis.
Israeli authorities say the village and its school was built illegally and in May the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against its demolition .
Residents say that they had little choice but to build without Israeli building permits, because documents are never delivered to Palestinians. of the West Bank where Israel has full control of civil affairs.
They also point out that they live only on the land because their families were forced to leave their traditional homeland in 1948 during the Palestinian Civil War. kba ", or disaster, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced.
Israeli authorities claim to have offered another site to villagers, but residents of Khan al-Ahmar point out that it is next Palestinians in Khan al-Ahmar vowed never to abandon their land.
"We have lived here since 1951. My grandfather, my father and I", Faisal Abu Dawoud , a 43-year-old man … A former resident told Middle East Eye. "It's impossible for us to leave this place, even if they stop us all and force us out, we'll come back." [19659024] Israeli police mistreat Bedouin villagers in Khan al-Ahmar (Reuters)
Khan al-Ahmar is mainly made up of makeshift tin and wooden structures, as traditionally is the case of villages Bedouins.
Alistair Burt, Minister of State for the Moye n East, visited it in May and called on the Israeli government to show restraint. 19659002] He warned that any forced resettlement "could constitute forcible transfer of persons with respect to the United Nations".
Such an action would be considered a violation of the Geneva Convention and therefore a war crime. France has also criticized Israeli plans for the Palestinian community
"The villages are also located in an area essential for the continuity of a future Palestinian state and therefore the viability of the two-state solution, which has been undermined today by the decisions of the Israeli authorities, "French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnès Von Der Muhll said in a statement.
Khan al-Ahmar is located east of Jerusalem, near several large settlements of Israeli settlements and near a road leading to the Dead Sea.
