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The injunction of the Supreme Court gave the government until July 11 to respond to the villagers in the statement of Khan al-Ahmar that they had been unjustly deprived of permits to to build.
For the moment, Khan al-Ahmar has been spared. (Photo: Reuters)
JERUSALEM: Israel's highest court suspended Thursday the planned demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has become the focus of Palestinian protests and international concerns, declared a lawyer for the inhabitants
. The Supreme Court injunction, issued a day after Israeli security forces unleashed clashes in Khan al-Ahmar by bulldozers, gave the state until July 11 to respond to the allegations of the villagers.
The court spokesman could not be reached for comment
About 180 Bedouins, raising sheep and goats, live in tin and wooden huts in Khan al-Ahmar. It is located between an important Israeli settlement, Ma Adumim near Jerusalem, and a smaller one to the northeast, Kfar Adumim.
Palestinians say Israeli building permits for Khan al-Ahmar have been impossible to obtain. Israel has long sought to clear the Bedouins from the area between the two settlements, and the Supreme Court approved the demolition in May.
Removing Bedouins, according to human rights groups, would create a larger pocket of settlements near Jerusalem for Palestinians to reach territorial contiguity in the West Bank, a territory that they seek with the Gaza Strip for a future state.
Israel said it was planning to move residents to an area about 12 kilometers (seven miles) near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis.
The new site is adjacent to a landfill site and rights advocates claim that a forced transfer of residents would violate international law applying to the occupied territories. The United Nations and the European Union have spoken out against the plan.
Most countries regard Israeli settlements built in the West Bank as illegal. Israel is challenging it.
Questioned before the Supreme Court's injunction on Thursday, Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan reported that the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar might not be imminent
Noting the level of violence. International opposition, Erdan told the Ynet information website: "I hope this decision will be implemented in the coming weeks."
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