BICOM

Britain and France have called on Israel to cease the planned demolition of a Bedouin settlement at Khan al-Ahmar near East Jerusalem.

Yesterday Israeli bulldozers were seen opening roads that lead from the main Jerusalem-Jericho highway to the Bedouin community. Eleven people were arrested after climbing onto the bulldozers and throwing stones. Israel had declared the area a closed military zone on Tuesday night.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said yesterday in response to an urgent question in Parliament that European countries are joining forces to prevent the demolition. Burt said: “This morning, officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv and from our Consulate General in Jerusalem visited Khan al-Ahmar to express our concern and demonstrate the international community’s support for that community. In accordance with our long-standing policy, we therefore condemn such a move, which would strike a major blow to prospects for a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said the demolition will have a “devastating” impact on the peace process and the hopes of a two-state solution. She called for the government “as a matter of urgency to recognise the state of Palestine – while there is still a state left to recognise”.

France urged the Israeli authorities to “refrain from any measures aimed at extending [Israeli] settlements in the Occupied Territories or making them permanent, in contravention of international law, as United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 reaffirms. France, in conjunction with its European partners, will continue to keep a close eye on the issue”.

Khan al-Ahmar, which is home to the Jahalin Bedouin tribe, is located in Area C [under full Israeli control] of the West Bank and is adjacent to the Route 1 Highway which connects Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. The tribe are believed to have moved there in the 1970s and now number 32 families and approximately 180 people.

After a ten year legal dispute involving four separate cases, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the village was built illegally and must be evacuated. The Supreme Court also concluded that the proposed new site offered suitable housing and allowed the community to continue herding their flocks and maintaining their traditional lifestyle. Israel planned to move the families five miles away to “Jahalin West,” near Abu Dis on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, to build a new school, and to provide each family with plots of land worth over 100,000 pounds which are connected to electricity and water. The Israeli Government criticised international pressure and the intervention of the Palestinian Authority which it believes undermined efforts to reach a compromise with the residents of Khan Al Ahmar.