Diplomats and representatives of human rights organizations today visited the village of al-Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, which is threatened by Israel with eradication.
The visit, organized by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem), aims at mobilizing international pressure to protect the al-Khan al-Ahmar community from Israeli plans to demolish the homes and displace its Palestinian residents.
B’Tselem briefed the delegation on the condition of the residents of al-Khan al-Ahmar and the displacement plans they face.
For their part, the diplomats emphasized that what is happening in Palestine and al-Khan al-Ahmar is a process to uproot the indigenous population and replace them with settlers, which is a clear violation of international law, for which Israel must be held accountable.
They stressed their support for peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the rejection of settlement activity.
The head of al-Khan al-Ahmar village council, Eid Khamis, told WAFA that the residents are determined to remain in their village and to confront the Israeli occupation plans aimed at displacing them in order to empty the area of any Palestinian presence as part of a plan to separate the south of the West Bank from its center and to isolate occupied Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
About 200 Palestinians, more than half of them children, live under the threat of demolition of their homes and displacement from their land and source of livelihood in al-Khan al-Ahmar community, located 15 kilometers east of occupied Jerusalem.
(WAFA)
