Daily Times

Scuffles broke out on Wednesday between Israeli authorities and protesters who feared preparations were underway to raze a Bedouin village in a strategic part of the occupied West Bank, despite international calls for a reprieve.

Protesters, including some waving Palestinian flags, tried to block a bulldozer and scuffled with police at Khan al-Ahmar on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. Some climbed onto the bulldozer in protest. Israeli rights group B’Tselem said nine people were arrested — five from the village and four others, including the organisation’s own head of field research.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 35 people injured, with four taken to hospital. Police reported two arrests and said stones were thrown at officers.

The incident came after activists said the Israeli military had issued a warrant to the 173 residents of Khan al-Ahmar on Tuesday, authorising itself to seize access roads to the village.

Heavy equipment was seen around the village on Wednesday, prompting speculation a road was being prepared to facilitate its evacuation and demolition. “Today they are proceeding with infrastructure work to facilitate the demolition and forcible transfer of residents,” Amit Gilutz, spokesman for B’Tselem, told AFP. Israeli authorities say the village and its school were built illegally, and in May the supreme court rejected a final appeal against its demolition.

But activists say the villagers had little alternative but to build without Israeli construction permits, as the documents are almost never issued to Palestinians for building in parts of the West Bank where Israel has full control over civilian affairs. Israel authorities say they have offered villagers an alternative site. The village is made up mainly of makeshift structures of tin and wood, as is traditionally the case with Bedouin villages.

Published in Daily Times, July 5^th 2018.