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The Israeli prime minister has postponed the demolition of a West Bank village that, according to an international court, could be considered a war crime.
Benjamin Netanyahu said other solutions had been raised in recent days, but insisted that the demolition of the Bedouin settlement would still take place.
"Khan al Ahmar will be evacuated, it is a court decision, it is our policy and it will be done," he said.
"I do not intend to postpone this case until further notice, contrary to what has been reported, but for a short period of time."
The village has its own school while there are only 180 inhabitants
The destruction of the corrugated huts, which house 180 people, could be a war crime, according to the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court.
Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, told Sky News last month that this plan amounted to "ethnic cleansing" and was part of a broader plan to create an "apartheid state".
European countries have also criticized this initiative in view of the fact that such demolitions threaten the prospect of a future Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Authority said that if Israel created new "facts on the ground", the West Bank would be cut off from East Jerusalem – the place where they hoped to become their capital.
Major demonstrations took place on the site – which is on the main road between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a final appeal and announced that Khan al-Ahmar was illegally built in an unsecured area near a major road.
The village has its own school while there are only 180 inhabitants
He proposed resettling residents a few kilometers away and connecting them to water, electricity and sewage treatment, but critics say that it is extremely difficult for them Palestinians to obtain building permits.
They say the camp will be razed to make room for new Israeli settlements.
Mr. Netanyahu and his cabinet will meet to decide the length of the delay in the demolition.
The village is in Zone C of the West Bank, which is under the exclusive control of Israel and is home to many settlements.
Palestinians claim the entire West Bank and claim that Area C, home to between 150,000 and 200,000 Palestinians, is critical to their economic development.
Waleed Assaf, of the Palestinian Settlement Affairs Department, said the opposition would continue "until the Israelis completely cancel the demolition order."
Regavim, an Israeli pro-colonizing NGO – which has asked the courts to move the village – has accused the Palestinian Authority of playing politics with the Bedouins.
International division director Naomi Kahn told Sky News in September that the village was artificially created where it is because of its strategic importance.
Like many in Israel, it views the West Bank as a disputed territory not occupied.
She said: "They are not withdrawn from the region, we offer them a much bigger and better developed alternative, and their traditions and way of life are preserved with the utmost care – it is not a war crime."
Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home Home party, tweeted on Sunday: "In a country of laws, you apply the law even though the international community objects and threatens it."
