Defying the international outcry to stop the demolition of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly confirmed plans to raze the village and have its inhabitants forcibly evicted. Netanyahu reportedly made the assertion at a Monday meeting of his right-wing Likud party, which leads Israel's current coalition government. According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the prime minister did not give an exact date for the demolition plans which he suspended last month, drawing criticism from some members of his cabinet.
In July, Israeli bulldozers destroyed several structures in Khan al-Ahmar, sparking clashes with local residents. Two months later, Israel's Supreme Court ruled to demolish the village.
Israel plans to evict some 10,000 Bedouin residents of what is known as the E1 Zone, which sits on 15 square kilometers (5.8 square miles) of land in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians say razing Khan al-Ahmar's tents and tin shacks is part of an Israeli plan to create an arc of Jewish settlements that could effectively cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank, areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 war.
