Description

Photos:
Scenes (8). Published by Maan News

Residents of the Bedouin village Khan al-Ahmar look on as a bulldozer paves an access road to be used by Israeli forces in the imminent demolition of the West Bank hamlet, July 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv). Published by 972Mag

Israeli security forces arrest a protester in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank, July 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv). Published by 972Mag

Demonstrators in Khan al-Ahmar seen after being arrested for protesting the building of an access road to allow for the demolition of the West Bank village, July 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv). Published by 972Mag

Palestinian activists and residents of Khan al-Ahmar block the path of Israeli security forces and bulldozers, as the latter tried to pave an access road to allow for the village’s imminent demolition, July 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv). Published by 972Mag
______

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces assaulted residents alongside activists and supporters of the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village east of Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Activists from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committee and others have been stationed in the village for weeks, as a form of protest against the planned demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and the displacement of its people.

Israeli forces and military vehicles had surrounded the Khan al-Ahmar in the earlier morning hours on Wednesday.

The land on which the Bedouin village is built is entirely owned by and registered at the Land Registration for the residents of the nearby village of Anata.

Israeli forces have been attempting to displace the residents of the Bedouin village, inhabited by 181 people, half of whom are children.

Earlier this week, Israeli forces raided Khan al-Ahmar, in preparation to demolish the village which would displace more than 35 Palestinian families, as part of an Israeli plan to expand the nearby Kfar Adummim settlement.

Although international humanitarian law prohibits the demolition of the village and illegal confiscation of private property, Israeli forces continue their planned expansion by forcing evictions and violating basic human rights of the people.

Sources added that Israeli police deployed near the Bedouin village blocked the main road. Buses were also called by the Israeli authorities to transfer the residents to the village of al-Eizariya, east of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 35 people were injured and treated in the field, while 4 were sent to hospitals for treatment.

Israel has been constantly trying to uproot Bedouin communities from the east of Jerusalem area to allow settlement expansion in the area, which would later turn the entire eastern part of the West Bank into a settlement zone.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned "the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the occupation authorities in the designated areas (C) and in the occupied city of Jerusalem and its environs."

According to Ynet website, critics said it is nearly impossible to obtain a construction permit from Israel, and that the village’s demolition and the displacement of its 181 residents is a clear plot to build new illegal Israeli settlements.

A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell, released a statement in which she called upon Israel not to proceed with their demolition plans of Khan al-Ahmar village and that the removal of its residents by force, as well as the destruction of private property is a violation of international law.

The video below shows Israeli forces assaulting and detaining Palestinian woman, a resident of Khan al-Ahmar village:

The video below shows Israeli bulldozers in Khan al-Ahmar village, preparing to demolish it, while activists and residents protest:
______

Police arrest 10 as Israel prepares to demolish entire village

Dozens of Palestinian, international, and Israeli activists try to stop bulldozers from paving an access road that will make easier the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank.

by ActiveStills, published by 972Mag.com

Israeli security forces arrested 10 Palestinians Wednesday as they began preparing for the demolition of an unrecognized Bedouin village in the West Bank.

IDF and police forces, along with representatives from the Civil Administration — the military body entrusted with controlling and monitoring the Palestinian population in the West Bank — arrived at the Khan al-Ahmar at dawn. With the help of bulldozers, they began paving an access road that would allow for the passage of heavy equipment that will be used to demolish the village and evict its residents.

The preparations come a month after Israel’s High Court formally approved a plan to demolish Khan al-Ahmar — home to over 170 people, including 90 children — and forcibly transfer them to an area near a garbage dump close to the West Bank town of Abu Dis. Now that no legal hurdles remain, Israeli army bulldozers can freely arrive at the village, caught between the Israeli settlements of Kfar Adumim and Ma’ale Adumim, at any time.

Meanwhile, the village has become an internationally-known site of resistance to Israel’s practice of forcibly transferring Palestinians out of Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli military control — an area many members of the Israeli government advocate annexing.

Dozens of Palestinian activists, as well as a few Israelis and internationals, joined Khan al-Ahmar’s residents around noon, blocking one of the bulldozers for an hour. The police, who appeared to have come unprepared for the protest, called for reinforcements. Security forces eventually put down the protest, arresting three Palestinian activists. Israeli police then arrested several more protesters on Route 1, which abuts the village, among them a 20-year-old resident of Khan al-Ahmar and her aunt. Police lightly wounded one Palestinian journalist and broke the lens of a camera belonging to a Palestinian photojournalist.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says it treated 35 activists for injuries sustained during the demonstration. Four of the protesters were hospitalized.

Police also arrested B’Tselem’s Field Research Director Kareem Jubran as he was filming the arrests. Jubran was released on Wednesday evening, although the rest of the detainees were kept in the Ma’ale Adumim police station.

Despite the protests, the bulldozers continues to carry out their work. Passersby could have easily thought they were there to improve the conditions of the village, which is not connected to the electricity grid or water, and has no paved roads. But in the unrecognized villages in both the West Bank and Israel, security forces have one goal: preparing for demolition.

“The situation here is like in al-Araqib and Umm al-Hiran,” says Khan al-Ahmar resident Mahmoud Abu Dawoud in reference to two Bedouin villages in Israel that have fought years-long struggles against demolition. “The goal is to put pressure on us so we sign a deal and leave the village.”

Palestinian activists continued streaming in throughout the day, waving flags and chanting until the bulldozers, the police, and the soldiers left the village at 4 p.m. British Consul-General Philip Hall visited the village in the afternoon, where he heard from residents about the arrests that had taken place just hours earlier, as well as the general condition of the hamlet. Hall listened, adding only that he believes the demolitions hurt the chances of achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians.