Israeli supreme court on Monday postponed issuing a decision on the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community to the east of Occupied Jerusalem until April next year.
Khan al-Ahmar spokesman Eid al-Jahalin said that the postponement was issued at the end of a session held on Monday at the supreme court to consider a request to evacuate the residents adding that he expected settler groups to file petitions asking for the demolition orders to be activated.
Khan al-Ahmar is home to 35 Palestinian families consisting of 145 individuals who have been living in the area for nearly 50 years. The residents refuse to leave the area unless the Israeli authorities allow them to return to their original homes in the Negev from which they were forcibly displaced which Israel completely rejects Jahalin said.
Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday that the Israeli government on Sunday informed the supreme court that it plans to evacuate the Bedouin village by mid 2018.
The paper added that the supreme court is considering two petitions in this regard: the first is from settlers in the area demanding the demolition of the village’s ecological school while the second is from Bedouin residents against the demolition orders against their homes.
In response to the two petitions the Israeli government said that it had offered Khan al-Ahmar residents an alternative location about eight kilometers away from the Bedouin village. This site is considered less strategically important for Israel since it is far from the area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumin.
The residents had rejected the offer since it is “inappropriate for their lifestyle and forces them into urban living.” They also said that the area is already inhabited by other Bedouin tribes in a manner that does not allow them to settle there.
Palestinians in Khan al-Ahmar live in extreme poverty with poor infrastructure in temporary houses built of tin wood and plastic.
