Protests after Israeli threats to remove Palestinian village

Dozens of Palestinians have protested against threats made by top Israeli politicians to imminently carry out the forced displacement of the Palestinian Bedouin village of

Khan al-Ahmar on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, home to at least 180 people. The protest took place on Monday after far-right politician and Minister of National

Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would push ahead with the village’s forced removal and plans emerged of a visit to the site by far-right ministers, including Ben-Gvir and Bezalel

Smotrich. A number of politicians from the Israeli parliament’s biggest party, Likud, eventually did gather near the village before later leaving. Ben-Gvir on

Saturday said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not hold Jews to one legal standard and Arabs to another” after an illegal Jewish settlement outpost in the

northern occupied West Bank was cleared by Israeli forces. However, Palestinians have decried what they argue is the false equivalency between Khan al-Ahmar and Israeli

settlements, which are illegal under international law. “Since 1967, there have been military orders for demolishing homes, closed military zones and others, and then these

areas are transformed into illegal settlements and nature reserves,” Eid Jahalin, who described himself as a spokesperson for the village, said at Monday’s protest. “Our

fate is to remain in this area,” Jahalin argued. “Whoever thinks that it is just Khan al-Ahmar – there are demolitions in the Jordan Valley, demolitions in Masafer Yatta, in

Jerusalem city – it is something constantly happening across all of Palestine.”