Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the green light for the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar village east of Occupied Jerusalem.
Anti-settlement activist Waleed Assaf said that the Israeli court rejected petitions filed by the residents of the Bedouin village and gave the Israeli army a one-week time limit to start the demolition.
Assaf said that the court also issued a decision preventing Palestinian citizens from returning to Khan al-Ahmar.
“No further legal actions can be taken in this case. All we can do is march in Khan al-Ahmar to prevent the demolition” he added.
Hebrew TV channel Seven reported that Israel fears that violent confrontations might be witnessed in the region in view of stepped-up social media campaigns urging Palestinian citizens to march in the threatened village and support its residents.
For his part Israel’s War Minister congratulated the judges of the Supreme Court for their “courageous and clear decision”.
The fate of Khan al-Ahmar has drawn heavy international attention and the demolition decision has been frozen several times following unremitting efforts by Palestinian lawyers to save the village.
Clashes over the Israeli plan to demolish Khan al-Ahmar has been repeatedly witnessed between Palestinian citizens and the Israeli occupation forces in all West Bank provinces. A sit-in tent was installed near the village for Palestinians to gather in a protest step against the demolition.
Khan al-Ahmar is one of 45 villages threatened with demolition in favor of a settlement project called E1. The project is aimed at creating a physical link between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem and that would effectively complete a crescent of Israeli settlements around East Jerusalem dividing it from the rest of the West Bank.
