Description

The Palestinian-Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar (Jerusalem periphery) is fighting for survival. The 180-strong community faces the threat of imminent displacement if the Israeli authorities demolish their homes and school as planned. This may well destroy the community, one of 20 in the area, who have become victims of creeping settlement expansion and ethnic cleansing. Write Israeli Minister of Defense Barak to demand he refrains from pursuing the demolition of the Khan al Ahmar School.

The land the community lives on has been slated for the expansion of settlements in the Ma’ale Adumim municipal area, in the Jerusalem periphery, despite the community’s decades’ long presence. Israeli authorities see Khan al Ahmar and the other Palestinian-Bedouin communities in the area, more than 2,300 people in all, as a hindrance to the planned expansion of Ma’ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim and other surrounding illegal settlements, and to the construction of the West Bank Barrier, which would de-facto annex this strategically significant area to Israel, rendering a Palestinian state unviable.

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Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, will execute the demolition order in coming days, unless pressured to call it off. Write Barak urgently to demand he refrains from pursuing the demolition of the Khan al Ahmar School.

Tell him of your concern for the Khan al Ahmar community fate and situation, express your opposition to the policy of house demolitions in both the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and ask him to end it immediately.


Please send urgent e-mails or faxes to:

Minister of Defense Ehud Barak

Fax: +972 3 691 6940/696 2757

Email: minister@mod.gov.il

Salutation: Dear Minister


Please copy protests to your Foreign Minister.