JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s top court cleared the way on Wednesday for the demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has become a focus of Palestinian protests and international concern.

The Supreme Court, in a decision released by a court spokesman, rejected petitions against the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and said a temporary injunction that had put a hold on the move would lapse in a week. </s> , JERUSALEM, Israel, Sept 5 – Israel’s top court on Wednesday upheld an order to raze a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank, clearing the way for the demolition to go ahead despite international pressure.

The ruling means that in seven days authorities will be allowed to raze Khan al-Ahmar, which Israel says was built illegally.

“We reject the petitions” against the directive to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, the supreme court panel said in its decision, adding that a temporary order preventing the razing of the village during court hearings “will be cancelled in seven days from today”.

It will now be down to the authorities to decide when to carry out the demolition after the restriction order ends.

The United Nations, European Union and rights groups have opposed the razing of the village, which consists mainly of makeshift structures of tin and wood.

They argue the move will enable Israeli settlement expansion that would cut the West Bank in two, making the prospects of a Palestinian state even dimmer.

In May, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against its demolition after nine years of hearings before various tribunals.

The court said Khan al-Ahmar residents had rejected proposals by the state regarding the site of their relocation, and expressed hope “the dialogue” would continue.

Activists say the villagers had little alternative but to build without Israeli construction permits that are almost never issued to Palestinians in the large parts of the West Bank where Israel has full control over civil affairs.

Hussein Abu Dahook, a resident of the hamlet, said the court wanted to “expel Palestinians and replace them with Israelis”.

“We are already refugees, we were expelled 70 years ago, and they want us to move again?” he said, referring to the 1948 war that accompanied Israel’s foundation and forced many Arabs from their homes.

But while Israel has “guns and tanks,” residents of Khan al-Ahmar would “stay to the end,” Abu Dahook vowed.

Tawfiq Jabareen, one of the lawyers representing Khan al-Ahmar residents in the petitions, said the court “was following Israel’s right-wing government” in its ruling, which he said was “legally wrong”.

“It is not based on legal arguments and contradicts past supreme court rulings,” he told AFP. “This is unfortunately what the government wants, and the court doesn’t want to intervene.”

Jabareen said there were currently no understandings between the state and residents on a voluntary relocation.

“I’ve never seen someone who’s being expelled and whose house is being destroyed sitting idly by,” he said.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who oversees the occupation of the West Bank, praised the judges for their decision in the face of “the coordinated attack of hypocrisy by (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas), the left and European states”.

“Nobody is above the law, nobody will keep us from acting on our sovereignty and responsibility as a state,” he said.

Khan al-Ahmar, which is east of Jerusalem, is located near several major Israeli settlements and close to a highway leading to the Dead Sea.

Diplomats from Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the European Union in July expressed their support of the village, and the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Jamie McGoldrick, condemned the Israeli demolition order. </s> Israel's top court on Wednesday upheld an order to raze a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank, after debating petitions challenging the decision.

There has been strong international pressure on Israel to reverse its plans to raze Khan al-Ahmar, which the Israeli authorities say was built illegally.

"We reject the petitions" against the directive to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, the supreme court panel said in its ruling, adding that a temporary order preventing the razing of the village during court hearings "will be cancelled within seven days from today."

It will now be down to the authorities to decide when to carry out the demolition after the restriction order ends.

The present village consists mainly of makeshift structures of tin and wood, as is generally the case with Bedouin sites.

In May, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against its demolition after nine years of hearings before various tribunals.

The court said Khan al-Ahmar residents had rejected proposals by the state regarding the site of their relocation, and expressed hope "the dialogue" would continue.

Activists say the villagers had little alternative but to build without Israeli construction permits that are almost never issued to Palestinians in the large parts of the West Bank where Israel has full control over civil affairs.

Tawfiq Jabareen, one of the lawyers representing Khan al-Ahmar residents in the petitions, said the court "was following Israel's rightwing government" in its ruling, which he said was "legally wrong".

"It is not based on legal arguments and contradicts past supreme court rulings," he told AFP. "This is unfortunately what the government wants, and the court doesn't want to intervene."

Jabareen said there were currently no understandings between the state and residents on a voluntary relocation.

"I’ve never seen someone who’s being expelled and whose house is being destroyed sitting idly by," he said.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who oversees the occupation of the West Bank, praised the judges for their decision in the face of "the coordinated attack of hypocrisy by (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas), the left and European states."

"Nobody is above the law, nobody will keep us from acting on our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he said. </s> JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected a petition by the residents of a West Bank Bedouin village slated to be razed to halt the demolition.

An injunction against the plan to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, located outside of Jerusalem near Maale Adumin, expires in a week. The international community and human rights organizations have rallied in support of the village.

In their decision Wednesday, the justices also declined to delay Khan al-Ahmar’s demolition until an alternative site is found for its approximately 200 residents.

The Supreme Court had authorized the demolition in May, since the homes were built without permits. The July injunction called on the state to review a compromise offer drawn up by the locals that would legalize the village.

Critics of the demolition believe that Israel is tearing down the village in order to make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.

UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov called the impending demolition “against international law” and tweeted that it would “undermine prospect for two-state solution.” </s> JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s top court suspended on Thursday the planned demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has become a focus of Palestinian protests and international concern, a lawyer for the residents said.

The Supreme Court injunction, issued a day after Israeli security forces sparked scuffles at Khan al-Ahmar by moving in bulldozers, gave the state until July 11 to respond to the villagers’ contention that they had been unfairly denied building permits, lawyer Alaa Mahajna told Reuters.

The court spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Around 180 Bedouin, raising sheep and goats, live in tin and wood shacks in Khan al-Ahmar. It is situated between a major Israeli settlement, Maale Adumim near Jerusalem, and a smaller

one to the northeast, Kfar Adumim.

Palestinians say Israeli building permits for Khan al-Ahmar have been impossible to get. Israel has long sought to clear Bedouin from the area between the two settlements, and the Supreme Court approved the demolition in May.

Removing the Bedouin, human rights groups say, would create a bigger settlement pocket near Jerusalem and make it more difficult for Palestinians to achieve territorial contiguity in the West Bank, a territory they seek along with the Gaza Strip for a future state.

Israel said it plans to relocate the residents to an area about 12 kilometers (seven miles) away, near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis.

The new site is adjacent to a landfill and rights advocates say that a forcible transfer of the residents would violate international law applying to occupied territory. The United Nations and European Union have come out against the plan.

Most countries regard settlements Israel has built in the West Bank as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Khan al-Ahmar’s residents belong to the Jahalin tribe of Bedouin who were expelled from southern Israel by the military in the 1950s.

Interviewed before the Supreme Court injunction on Thursday, Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan signaled that the Khan al-Ahmar demolition might not be imminent.

Noting the level of international opposition to the move, Erdan told the Ynet news site: “I hope this decision will be implemented in the coming weeks.” </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Khan al-Ahmar was established in the 1950s by members of a tribe from the Negev desert

Israel's Supreme Court has rejected appeals against the demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has been a subject of international concern.

Judges upheld an order to raze Khan al-Ahmar, where about 180 people live in shacks between two Jewish settlements.

Israel's government says the structures were built illegally, but Palestinians say permits are impossible to obtain.

An injunction against the demolition will expire within seven days.

The United Nations has called on Israel to allow the Bedouin to remain on the land, saying such demolitions are against international law.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Israel's government says the structures were built illegally on state-owned land

Khan al-Ahmar, which is 8km (5 miles) east of Jerusalem, was established in the early 1950s by members of a semi-nomadic tribe the UN says was displaced from the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Israel did not recognise Khan al-Ahmar as a residential area after it occupied the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war, and refused to connect the community to utilities like water and electricity.

Since 2009, residents have been fighting demolition orders issued for the wooden and corrugated iron shacks in which they live, as well as a clinic, mosque and an Italian-funded primary school.

The Israeli government said the structures were built on state-owned land without permits from the Israeli military which, under the 1993 Oslo Accords, has exclusive control over construction in the 60% of the West Bank known as "Area C".

Palestinians complain that the Israeli military refuses the vast majority of Palestinian building requests and say they are left with little option except to build without permission.

In May, the Supreme Court rejected petitions to prevent the demolitions at Khan al-Ahmar and the relocation of its residents to a site designated by the Israeli government near the Palestinian town of Abu Dis.

After the Israeli military began preparations for the demolitions in July residents filed new petitions to the Supreme Court , including one asking for the original verdict to be overturned and another for the eviction to be delayed until they could find somewhere else to live.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Khan al-Ahmar residents saw their appeals rejected

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman congratulated the court on Wednesday's ruling upholding the demolition order, which he said had come despite "the orchestrated hypocrisy of Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], the Left and European states".

"Nobody is above the law, nobody will keep us from acting on our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he added.

The head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's human rights body, Ahmed al-Tamimi, warned Israel against proceeding with the demolition, calling it a "flagrant challenge to the whole world and a serious violation of the international humanitarian law and human rights".

The UN has previously warned that international humanitarian law requires an occupying power to protect the population of the territory that it occupies , ensure its welfare and wellbeing, as well as the respect for its human rights.

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Any destruction of property by the occupying power is prohibited, except when rendered absolutely necessary by military operations, the UN says. The extensive demolition of property is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may amount to a war crime, it adds.

Other than for the security of the population or imperative military reasons, international humanitarian law also prohibits the transfer of the population of an occupied territory without the genuinely and fully informed consent of the affected people, according to the UN.

Khan al-Ahmar is one of 18 Bedouin communities the UN considers being at risk of forcible transfer because they are located in or next to an area near East Jerusalem slated by Israel for Jewish settlement construction. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. </s> Israel's top court cleared the way on Wednesday for the demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has become a focus of Palestinian protests and international concern.

The Supreme Court, in a decision released by a court spokesman, rejected petitions against the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and said a temporary injunction that had put a hold on the move would lapse in a week.

Around 180 Bedouin, raising sheep and goats, live in tin and wood shacks in Khan al-Ahmar. It is situated outside Jerusalem between two Israeli settlements.

Israel said it plans to relocate the residents to an area about 12 km (seven miles) away, near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis.

But the new site is adjacent to a landfill, and rights advocates say that a forcible transfer of the residents would violate international law applying to occupied territory.

Most countries consider settlements built by Israel on land it captured in the 1967 Middle East War as illegal, and an obstacle to peace. They say they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians seek for a viable state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. </s> JERUSALEM, Sept 5 — Israel’s top court cleared the way today for the demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank whose fate has become a focus of Palestinian protests and international concern.

The Supreme Court, in a decision released by a court spokesman, rejected petitions against the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and said a temporary injunction that had put a hold on the move would lapse in a week.

Around 180 Bedouin, raising sheep and goats, live in tin and wood shacks in Khan al-Ahmar. It is outside Jerusalem between two Israeli settlements and was built without Israeli permits, which Palestinians say are impossible to obtain.

Israel said it plans to relocate the residents to an area about 12 km (seven miles) away, near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis.

But the new site is next to a landfill, and rights advocates say that a forcible transfer of the residents would violate international law applying to occupied territory.

The European Union had publicly urged Israel to cancel the evacuation plan.

Feisal Abu Dahouk, a resident of Khan Al-Ahmar called the court’s ruling “a racist decision”, telling Reuters by telephone “there is no place we can go”.

“Khan al-Ammar will be evacuated! I congratulate the Supreme Court justices on their brave and called-for decision, in the face of the orchestrated hypocrisy of Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas), the left and European states,” Lieberman wrote on Twitter.

Ayman Odeh, head of the United Arab List in Israel’s parliament, said on Twitter the villagers had “fallen victim to the destructive policies of a rightist government that is broadening settlement blocs at the cost of Arab communities”.

Most countries consider settlements built by Israel on land it captured in the 1967 Middle East War as illegal, and an obstacle to peace. They say they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians seek for a viable state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Israel disputes this and cites biblical, historical and political connections to the land, as well as security needs. — Reuters </s> JERUSALEM: Israel's top court on Wednesday (Sep 5) upheld an order to raze a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank, after debating petitions challenging the decision.

There has been strong international pressure on Israel to reverse its plans to raze Khan al-Ahmar, which the Israeli authorities say was built illegally.

"We reject the petitions" against the directive to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, the supreme court panel said in its ruling, adding that a temporary order preventing the razing of the village during court hearings "will be cancelled within seven days from today".

The present village consists mainly of makeshift structures of tin and wood, as is generally the case with Bedouin sites.

In May, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against its demolition after nine years of hearings before various tribunals.

Activists say the villagers had little alternative but to build without Israeli construction permits that are almost never issued to Palestinians in the large parts of the West Bank where Israel has full control over civil affairs.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who oversees the occupation of the West Bank, praised the judges for their decision in the face of "the coordinated hypocrisy attack by (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas) Abu Mazen, the left and European states".

"Nobody is above the law, nobody will keep us from acting on our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he said in a statement.
Israel’s Supreme Court rejects appeals against the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank whose fate has been a subject of international concern.