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Palestinians in Khan al-Ahmar stand ground amid displacement plan | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Khan al-Ahmar, occupied West Bank – Yusra Abu Eid lost not only her house but also the village of Khan al-Ahmar that she had called home for many years.

The Palestinian village on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem faces impending destruction by Israeli authorities, which will force the 34-year-old man to relocate, along with 220 other residents living in tents and tents. tin house.

“We have nowhere to go,” Abu Eid, who moved to Khan al-Ahmar from the nearby town of al-Eizariya to live with her husband, told Al Jazeera.

Khan al-Ahmar has for many years attracted international attention due to its inhabitants Legal battle with the Israeli authorities about the existence of the village.

In September 2018, Israel’s Supreme Court gave the green light to demolish the village, making it possible to tear down at any time. However, such plans have been repeatedly postponed.

On January 21, Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister in the new Israeli government, ordered a blockade of the village. delete immediately. His plans for a site visit with another controversial politician, Bezalel Smotrich, met with opposition in the village.

The Israeli government has until February 1 to explain to the Supreme Court why the village, located in what is known as Area C under Israeli military control, has yet to be demolished or taken. plan to destroy it.

‘Watched all the time’

Located a few kilometers from Jerusalem, Khan al-Ahmar is sandwiched between two major Israeli illegal settlements, Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim.

It is located along a key corridor where Israel aims to expand and link major settlements in occupied East Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley, under what it calls the E1 settlement project, which will effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.

The Israeli government plans to relocate residents to an area near a landfill about 12km away, near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis in East Jerusalem.

The forced transfer of protected persons in the occupied territory is classified as a war crime under international law.

Resident Mohammad Abu Eid Jahalin said that under Israeli occupation, the village and surrounding settlements had been economically besieged for years. This has resulted in limited areas for grazing, even though it is the main source of livelihood for residents. He also said the Israeli authorities had revoked all Israeli work permits for the men in the village.

Mohamad Abu Eid Jahalin
Mohammad Abu Eid Jahalin says Israel has besieged the village economically for many years [Aziza Nofal/Al Jazeera]

Jahalin was born in Khan al-Ahmar after Israel displaced his clan from the southern Naqab (Negev) region in 1951. Following the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the village came under military control. Israeli team.

“We are constantly being watched by drones filming everything we do and we are not allowed to bring in any construction materials or equipment. If one of us builds a new tent, it will be demolished the next day,” Jahalin, 53, told Al Jazeera.

The only school in the community, built with mud and old car tires, is also facing demolition.

Sitting in the schoolyard, no more than four meters (13 feet) tall on all sides, six-year-old Alaa Talib Youssef eats with friends during a break between school hours.

“We’re not leaving,” she said of the potential clearance.

Describing her school as “more beautiful” than her home, Youssef said she hopes to become a “hairdresser” when she gets older so she can take care of the women in the village, who currently have to go a long way to get to the hairdresser.

Meanwhile, her eight-year-old brother has his eye on something much simpler: a “large yard” to play football with his classmates and schoolmates.

“There is no flat field in the village where we can play – even the school yard is very narrow,” he said.

Battle for ‘Zone C’

Khan al-Ahmar School serves about 200 children from the village and nearby Bedouin communities, through ninth grade. Students then have to go to al-Eizariya, which impedes many, especially girls, from completing their education due to a number of challenges, including the lack of public transport.

Shahd Ibrahim
Shahd Ibrahim hopes to become an Arabic teacher at her school [Aziza Nofal/Al Jazeera]

Shahd Ibrahim, a fifth grader, said he hopes to “become an Arabic teacher in the same school” that he loves so much.

She recalls how Israeli forces, along with bulldozers, raided the community when the demolition order was issued more than four years ago.

“I woke up to my father and grandfather shouting at soldiers deployed everywhere. The bulldozer is in front of the house, my brother is crying a lot and my mother is trying to silence him,” the 11-year-old told Al Jazeera.

When asked what her village feels lacking, she said: “I just wish we had a house instead of a tent, even a caravan, and the school wouldn’t be demolished.”

Local campaign coordinator Jamal Jumaa said more work was needed to strengthen community resilience under Israel’s new government, arguably the most right-wing in Israel’s history.

“Today’s battle is more difficult than the previous ones. It is not a battle for one place or another. What is happening in Khan al-Ahmar, we also see in Masafer Yatta and other areas. There is a plan to completely clean up Area C,” Jumaa said, referring to a collection of Palestinian villages facing displacement south of Hebron.

Meanwhile, Abu Eid said she feared what might happen next, but remained adamant about what she intended to do.

“I am afraid, but this is not just happening to me – it is happening to everyone in the village,” she said.

“I will not leave; we will stay on our land.



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