Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured his right-wing base that the delay in the demolition of the West Bank herding village of Khan al-Ahmar was temporary and that a timetable would be set by a Sunday cabinet meeting.
“Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated this is a court decision this is our policy and it will also be implemented” the Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu as stating.
“I do not intend to postpone this until further notice contrary to the publications” he added.
Netanyahu spoke out after the Israeli government announced that the village’s destruction would be delayed until further notice.
On Sunday Netanyahu said “I have no intention of postponing this until further notice but for a short short time.”
“The amount of time to achieve this consent will be determined by the Cabinet. I will convene it today. It will make a decision. The [timetable will be] short. I believe [the evacuation] will also be consensual” he claimed.
Netanyahu spoke just after Education Minister Naftali Bennett who heads the Bayit Yehudi party swore that he would ensure the demolition of the village.
The international community particularly the European Union and its member states have called on Israel not to evacuate the village of some 190 Palestinian Bedouins.
On Wednesday the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda warned Israel that the forced relocation of the village was “war crime”
She said “I have been following with concern the planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank. Evacuation by force now appears imminent and with it the prospects for further escalation and violence.”
“It bears recalling as a general matter that extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute” she said.
Israel’s High Court of Justice had ruled that there was no legal barrier to the demolition of the village but that it preferred to see a negotiated resolution.
Right wing politicians and activists immediately condemned the delay and called on Netanyahu to rescind it.
Repeated clashes have broken out in Khan al-Ahmar over recent weeks as the Israeli occupation army cracked down on the locals and carried out road works so that it could more easily demolish the village’s residential tents and shacks.
