The Europeans are warning Israel against the destruction of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, where, as of 2018, there are 173 Bedouin residents, including 92 children, living in tents and huts. Khan al-Ahmar is located between the Israeli settlements of Ma’ale Adumim and Kfar Adumim. In May 2018, Israel’s High Court of Justice determined that its residents could be evicted, as per a 2010 Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories demolition order.
Three senior European diplomats on Thursday told Channel 10 News that the ambassadors of the five largest countries of the European Union—Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain—had met with the deputy national security adviser at the Prime Minister’s Office, Oded Yosef, to warn him that the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar would lead to a stern response from many European countries.
According to the diplomats, the ambassadors asked that Israel reconsider the demolition of the village and stressed that they were very concerned that the demolition was in preparation for building a new settlement in Area C, which would prevent territorial contiguity in a future Palestinian state.
Israel rejected the appeal and announced that the demolition would continue as planned.
Yosef said at the meeting that the Supreme Court had approved the demolition of the village and noted that in its current location it constituted a safety hazard.
He added that the residents had been offered a number of alternatives and that Israel would continue to prepare for the demolition of the village as planned.
Israel has prepared a permanent neighborhood for the residents of Khan al-Ahmar, where each evicted family will receive a developed plot for free.
The Regavim movement issued a statement saying, “The hypocritical European countries have led and financed the illegal construction in order to help the Palestinian Authority take control of the Ma’aleh Adumim area, and with great insolence are exerting unacceptable pressure with the help of radical left-wing organizations, while further exploiting the High Court of Justice in an attempt to delay the enforcement of the law and the implementation of the ruling.”
Ma’ale Adumim at the center of E1 / Courtesy Google Maps
The crux of the struggle is nothing short of the viable future of a Palestinian State. It comes down to who would control Area E1, which stretches along the narrowest part of Judea and Samaria. Should E1, which is part of Area C, according to the Oslo Accords, meaning it is under complete Israeli control, be filled with illegal Arab construction and be kept alive with European pressure, then an eventual Palestinian State could count on a contiguous, north-to-south territory.
But should the city of Ma’ale Adumim, 4.3 miles east of Jerusalem, population 40,000, be permitted to link with eastern Jerusalem, then the dream of a Palestinian State would effectively die, as communication between its southern and northern part would involve crossing a protected, sprawling Israeli urban barrier.
Or, as Regavim put it this week, “Khan al-Ahmar has become a litmus test for the State of Israel, which must stand firm against the pressure campaign and complete the outpost’s relocation.”
The court just reversed itself and delayed it, last I heard. Dammit. Shaked still has her work cut out.
Interesting reasoning of the European envoys.
They are afraid that the demolition will “affect the contiguity of a future Palestinian state” Who give’s a s#$% about the 170 residents…Clearly they are not a consideration neither is the generous compensation they have been offered for an illegal construction. I guess all there 5 “great” nations are members of the UNHRC.
There has never been a better time for Israel to act as a sovereign state and do what is right for its nation. Any attempt to appease Israel’s critics (read enemies) will only embolden them further. The time is right, and since the Europeans are up to their ears in problems of their own, tell the world that internal affairs of Israel are entirely of Israel’s business!
These cursed Goyim, and some Jews too from Europe, have been sticking their noses into our Sovereign affairs ever since 1948. Before that they treated Jews like 3rd class citizens, who had to convert to idolatry to succeed in the market place. No Jew’s life was ever normal, until we had our own country.
They seem to think that we’re one of their captured Colonies. They keep spending multi millions to try to destroy the Jewish State yet we have not been brave enough to tell them to bugger off. and keep destroying their own countries. Their excesses towards anyone else would be regarded as an act of War.
The local Arabs will NEVER have a State in Eretz Yisrael, at best will receive local autonomy, unless we Jews get so fed up that we just kick them out and send them to the REAL UN Refugees Org. Our supine, cowardly Court, must have been broken hearted to have to finally decide that their shanty camp must go. It should have been done 8 years ago, as soon as the very first flea-infested tent was installed. One bulldozer and 1 hour would have cleared everything up.
What I DON’T understand is why Israel is still playing “placate the kids” with these barbarians with 4 current wives, and about 750 kids waiting in the wings to descend on the camp when it seems permanent. Nobody is kidding me. Many of those 92 “kids” already there, are poor early-teen girls, some maybe already pregnant.
WHY SHOULD THEY GET FREE HOUSING….??? Why are they more special than the Jews who come from luxury abroad to sit in the Holy Land under poor conditions and who have to pay through the nose for a roof over their heads. I was there for 13-14 years, and from the first day had to pay my own way. I think the only free thing I got was a little kerosene stove, worth about $10….no kerosene, just the stove. Oh yes, and an armload of glossy pamphlets, whose cost would have kept me and wife for months..
Tell the EU that whatever “consequences” they intend to commit against Israel will be paid back TENFOLD, and let them have sleepless nights over it.
Just to be nice we should send Merkel a Chanukah gift of 40,000 illegal African infiltrators.