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Coordinates: 31°48′45.00″N 35°20′16.00″E / 31.8125000°N 35.3377778°E / 31.8125000; 35.3377778
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In 2015, Palestinian NGO [[Future for Palestine]] donated solar panels to provide the village with electricity. In July, the Civil Administration confiscated the solar panels, as well as one which had been in the village for several years.<ref name=solar />
In 2015, Palestinian NGO [[Future for Palestine]] donated solar panels to provide the village with electricity. In July, the Civil Administration confiscated the solar panels, as well as one which had been in the village for several years.<ref name=solar />


In September 2017 [[Israeli Civil Administration| Israeli military authorities in the West Bank]] notified the Khan al-Ahmar villagers that their only option would be to move to "Jahalin West", a site near the [[Abu Dis]] garbage dump which had been specially allocated for them to that end. <ref>[https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/201700914_khan_al_ahmar 'Israel moves to advance forcible transfer of Khan al-Ahmar,'] [[B'tselem]] 14 September 2014 </ref><ref>AFP, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-slams-new-west-bank-settlement-homes-upcoming-demolition-of-bedouin-village/ 'EU blasts new West Bank settlement homes, upcoming demolition of Bedouin village,'] [[The Times of Israel]] 31 May 2018 </ref> A lawyer who filed a petition against the relocation on behalf of the Jahlin tribe says that the land is claimed by Abu Dis residents, and that the area Israel would allocate to each prospective large Bedouin family and their herds there is no more than approximately 250 sq. metres.<ref name="Lynfield" />. Conversely, the [[Gatestone Institute]] says that the relocation package is worth over 500,000 NIS per wife for multi-wife households, with each wife set to receive, free of charge, a large plot of land, fully developed, connected to water and electricity, and zoned for residential construction. <ref>[https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12416/palestinian-illegal-building EU and Palestinian Illegal "Facts on the Ground"]</ref>
In September 2017 [[Israeli Civil Administration| Israeli military authorities in the West Bank]] notified the Khan al-Ahmar villagers that their only option would be to move to "Jahalin West", a site near the [[Abu Dis]] garbage dump which had been specially allocated for them to that end. <ref>[https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/201700914_khan_al_ahmar 'Israel moves to advance forcible transfer of Khan al-Ahmar,'] [[B'tselem]] 14 September 2014 </ref><ref>AFP, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-slams-new-west-bank-settlement-homes-upcoming-demolition-of-bedouin-village/ 'EU blasts new West Bank settlement homes, upcoming demolition of Bedouin village,'] [[The Times of Israel]] 31 May 2018 </ref> A lawyer who filed a petition against the relocation on behalf of the Jahlin tribe says that the land is claimed by Abu Dis residents, and that the area Israel would allocate to each prospective large Bedouin family and their herds there is no more than approximately 250 sq. metres.<ref name="Lynfield" />


[[File:On the road to Jericho Khan-el-Ahmar Holy Land (i.e. West Bank).jpg|thumb|Old postcard of Khan al-Ahmar]]
[[File:On the road to Jericho Khan-el-Ahmar Holy Land (i.e. West Bank).jpg|thumb|Old postcard of Khan al-Ahmar]]

Revision as of 17:19, 15 June 2018

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The internationally funded and eco-friendly school building for the Khan al-Ahmar community in the West Bank, with Israeli Highway 1 in the background.

Khan al-Ahmar (Template:Lang-ar, Template:Lang-he, lit. The Red Inn) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate of the West Bank. In 2018, there were 173 Bedouin. including 92 children, [1] living there in tents and huts, upwards of 100 in 2010, with its local school serving the needs of 150 children in the area.[2][3] Khan al-Ahmar is located between the Israeli settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Kfar Adumim. In May 2018, the Israeli High Court of Justice determined that its residents could be evicted.[2]

History

According to the 1931 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khan el Ahmar had a population of 27, in 3 houses.[4]

In 1945 the Arabs of Khan el Ahmar had 16,380 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[5][6] Of this, 538 dunams were used for cereals,[7] while 15,842 dunams were classified non-cultivable land.[8]

Many of the families living in Khan al-Ahmar, from the Bedouin Jahalin tribe, were expelled from the Negev in 1952 by the Israeli army. They moved the following year to the West Bank, under Jordanian administration,[9] and settled in Khan al-Ahmar which, in the late 1970s, found itself incorporated into lands that were assigned to a new Israeli settlement, which became the present-day Maale Adumim.[10] The village is one of the only remaining Palestinian areas within the E1 zone, strategically significant because it connects the north and south of the West Bank.[11]

The village was slated to be demolished by Israel in February 2010 due to allegations of illegal building.[12] The Israeli state announced plans in September 2012 to relocate the villagers to the an-Nuway'imah area in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho. The people of Khan al-Ahmar have opposed this plan.[13] Abu Khamiss, a spokesperson for Khan al-Ahmar residents, said in 2015 that the relocation site would be "like a prison for us".[11]

In July 2009, Italian aid organization Vento Di Terra, (Wind of Earth) and other volunteers built a school in the village, using the radical tyre-mud earth method,[9] to address the needs of the community and the difficulty for children to access other schools within the West Bank.[3] A demolition order was served against the school by the Civil Administration one month after it opened, on the basis that it had been built too close to Highway 1, for which expansion plans have already been approved (although representatives of the State have stated demolition would not be carried out until the village relocation is completed).[14]

Since 2009, residents of the nearby Israeli settlements of Kfar Adumim, Alon and Nofei Prat, assisted by the settler NGO Regavim, [15] have filed petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court calling for the Israeli military to immediately carry out the standing demolition order against 257 Palestinian structures in the area, including the Khan al-Ahmar school.[16] A lawyer representing the Bedouin community has also petitioned to overturn the demolition order against the school. UNRWA, which operates an education program in Palestine, has also campaigned to defend the Khan al-Ahmar school, arguing that demolishing the school would "effectively deny the children of the community their education and jeopardise their future".[17] The court has so far rejected both sets of petitioners, leaving the village with standing demolition orders.[18]

In 2015, Palestinian NGO Future for Palestine donated solar panels to provide the village with electricity. In July, the Civil Administration confiscated the solar panels, as well as one which had been in the village for several years.[11]

In September 2017 Israeli military authorities in the West Bank notified the Khan al-Ahmar villagers that their only option would be to move to "Jahalin West", a site near the Abu Dis garbage dump which had been specially allocated for them to that end. [19][20] A lawyer who filed a petition against the relocation on behalf of the Jahlin tribe says that the land is claimed by Abu Dis residents, and that the area Israel would allocate to each prospective large Bedouin family and their herds there is no more than approximately 250 sq. metres.[9]

Old postcard of Khan al-Ahmar
The Good Samaritan Inn (Khan al-Hatruri)

2018 Supreme Court Decision

On the 24 of May the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that, starting from June, the Israeli army can move the village to a different location. Justice Noam Sohlberg, himself a resident of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, [21] wrote that the grounds for the decision, which rejected a villagers' petition for a stay in the order, was that the residents had unlawfully engaged in building both the school and housing, and that it was not within the court's remit to meddle in the execution of Israeli state laws.[2] David Zonsheine, executive director of the Israeli Human Rights NGO, B'tselem, stated that Israel had failed to connect the township to water, power and sewerage services, and that the villagers had built without permits because, it is claimed, Israeli policy is such that is dissuades Palestinian villagers from even trying to obtain licenses to build, a claim also repeated by Human Rights Watch.[22][23] The effect of the dismantlement and evictions will be, he added, to bisect the West Bank from north to south.[2]

Minister of State for the Middle East at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alistair Burt said that the proposed relocation of any people might be taken by the United Nations as an act constituting the forcible transfer of people.[1] Some 300 public intellectuals, legal scholars, parliamentarians and artists the world over published an open letter stating that:" Forcible transfer – by direct physical force or by creating a coercive environment that makes residents leave their homes – is a war crime."[24] [23][25]

Landmarks

The village gets its name from what is traditionally identified as "The Red Inn" (Khan al-Ahmar in Arabic), which was built in the 13th century on the site of St Euthymius' monastery [26][27][28], after it was destroyed by the Mamluk sultan Baybars. The monastery had also included an inn, and developed on the remains of The Church of St. Euthymius, built in the 5th century to commemorate Jesus's New Testament story of the Good Samaritan.

Another inn, "The Good Samaritan Inn" (Khan al-Hatruri) [29] is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) east of the village. It is a 16th-century Ottoman-era building believed to have sheltered caravans of traders. Across the highway are archeological remains of a crusader fortress known as "The Red Fortress".[30][31]

References

  1. ^ a b 'UK urges Israel not to demolish Khan al Ahmar village east of Jerusalem,' Gulf Times 13 June 2018
  2. ^ a b c d David Zonsheine, 'Israel is about to destroy this Palestinian village. Will Britain step in?,' The Guardian 14 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b Jewish Settlements Squeeze Bedouin Enclave National Public Radio, July 23, 2009
  4. ^ Mills, 1932, p.45
  5. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  6. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 57
  7. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 103
  8. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 153
  9. ^ a b c Ben Lynfield, 'Israeli Supreme Court to rule on demolition of West Bank village,' The National 5 May 2018
  10. ^ Palestine & Palestinians. Beit Sahour: Alternative Tourism Group. September 2008. p. 162. ISBN 9950-319-01-3.
  11. ^ a b c Bainier, Corentin (4 July 2015). "Khan al-Ahmar: the village holding out against Israel". France 24. Israel & the Palestinian Territories. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  12. ^ West Bank village under threat Al Jazeera, 22 February 2010
  13. ^ "Bedouins around Ma'ale Adumim". B'Tselem. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2016. In September 2012, the State announced that two alternative sites in the Jericho area – Nu'eimeh North and Armonot Hashmonaim – were being considered for relocation of Bedouins from the area of Khan al-Ahmar near Ma'ale Adumim, adding that the relocation would be carried out through a process that would include representatives of the Jahalin.
  14. ^ "Bedouins around Ma'ale Adumim". B'Tselem. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2016. Before the school was opened, the village children had to go schools that were far distant, making trips that were both costly and risky. A month after the school opened, the Civil Administration issued it a demolition order, arguing that it was too close to a main road for which expansion plans have already been approved.
  15. ^ Odeh Bisharat, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-you-the-silent-majority-go-to-this-palestinian-village-1.6140040 'You, the Silent Majority, Go to This Palestinian Village,' Haaretz 4 June 2018
  16. ^ Court rejects petition to demolish Beduin school, Jerusalem Post
  17. ^ "Campaign to save a West Bank school from demolition". UNRWA. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  18. ^ "Bedouins around Ma'ale Adumim". B'Tselem. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  19. ^ 'Israel moves to advance forcible transfer of Khan al-Ahmar,' B'tselem 14 September 2014
  20. ^ AFP, 'EU blasts new West Bank settlement homes, upcoming demolition of Bedouin village,' The Times of Israel 31 May 2018
  21. ^ 'Israel: Army Demolishing West Bank Schools: Could Amount to War Crimes,' Human Rights Watch 25 April 2018
  22. ^ 'Israel: Army Demolishing West Bank Schools:Could Amount to War Crimes,' Human Rights Watch 25 April 2018:'The Israeli military refuses to permit most new Palestinian construction in the 60 percent of the West Bank where it has exclusive control over planning and building, even as the military facilitates settler construction. The military has enforced this discriminatory system by razing thousands of Palestinian properties, including schools, creating pressure on Palestinians to leave their communities.'
  23. ^ a b Forcible Transfer is a War Crime B'tselem:'Israel attempts to provide legal justification for its actions against these Palestinian communities by arguing that they are “building without permits”. This, however, is a disingenuous claim as Israel’s planning policy in the West Bank all but precludes Palestinians from ever receiving the required permits For years Israel has been implementing a plan to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians who live in farming-shepherding communities in the West Bank. Focusing on three areas – the Jordan Valley, the South Hebron Hills, and the area east of Jerusalem – it aims to establish facts on the ground that would achieve exclusive de-facto Israeli control in those areas, and eventually facilitate formal annexation.'
  24. ^ Over 300 public figures from around the world: Forcible transfer of Khan al-Ahmar community a war crime B'tselem 11 June 2018.
  25. ^ 'Israel: Army Demolishing West Bank Schools:Could Amount to War Crimes,' Human Rights Watch 25 April 2018'Israel’s destruction of Palestinian schools, and its failure to replace them, violates its obligation as an occupying power to “facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children,” and violates the prohibition on interfering with the activities of educational institutions or requisitioning their property. International law prohibits an occupying power from destroying property, including schools, unless “absolutely necessary” for “military operations.” The Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court prohibit widespread, unlawful destruction of property as a war crime.'
  26. ^ St Euthymius Monastery
  27. ^ Euthemius Monastery
  28. ^ St Euthymius - Google street view
  29. ^ Good Samaritan Inn - Google maps
  30. ^ Good Samaritan Museum
  31. ^ Inn of the Good Samaritan

Bibliography

31°48′45.00″N 35°20′16.00″E / 31.8125000°N 35.3377778°E / 31.8125000; 35.3377778

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