Israel’s cabinet delays Khan al-Ahmar evacuation, Bayit Yehudi objects

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday delayed by a few weeks the evacuation of the illegal West Bank herding village of Khan al-Ahmar.

Bayit Yehudi objected to the delay. The majority of the cabinet, however, approved.

“In accordance with the recommendation of professional elements, the Security Cabinet has granted an extension of several weeks in order to exhaust the negotiations for evacuation by agreement,” it said in a statement released after the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu assured his right-wing base that he had not backed down from the state’s primary decision that the village must be relocated.

“Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated. This is the decision of the court. This is our policy and it will be carried out. I have no intention of delaying this until further notice, contrary to what is being reported, but for a short period.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the Bayit Yehudi party, swore that he would ensure the demolition of the village: “Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated. This is illegal construction whose destruction was approved by the Supreme Court.”

“In a state which abides by the rule of law, the law is enforced even if there is opposition or threats from the international community. The Bayit Yehudi party will make sure that it does happen,” Bennett said.

Netanyahu first angered his right wing base, when he announced on Saturday night that he would delay the evacuation, pending another notice.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s office said in response that Liberman opposed the delay and that the decision was taken in spite of his “resolute opposition.”

The international community, particularly the European Union and its member states, have called on Israel not to evacuate the village of some 180 Jahalin Bedouin that is located near Route 1, just below the Kfar Adumim settlement.

On Wednesday, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda warned Israel that the forced relocation of the village was “war crime.”

“I have been following with concern the planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank,” she said.  “Evacuation by force now appears imminent, and with it the prospects for further escalation and violence.”

“It bears recalling, as a general matter, that extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute,” she said.

Israel’s High Court of Justice had ruled that there was no legal barrier to the demolition of the village, but that it preferred to see a negotiated resolution.

Army Radio reported that the state is taking another look at a proposal put forward by residents to keep the village in the same location, but move it further back from the road. Such a move could have development implications on expansion plans for either the Kfar Adumim or the Ma’aleh Adumim settlements.

The state had wanted to relocate Khan al-Ahmar to the new neighborhood of Abu Dis, called Jahalin West or to an area next to the Mitzpe Yericho settlement. Khan al-Ahmar residents had rejected both options, because the first site is next to a garbage dump and the second is near a sewage treatment plant.

Right wing politicians and activists immediately condemned the delay and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rescind it.

MK Moti Yogev (The Bayit Yehudi) decried Netanyahu’s “unprecedented laxity” and said that the delay should last no more than two weeks.

“International criticism is not a reason to give up on our sovereignty and our laws,” said Yogev who chairs the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sub-group on Judea and Samaria. He plans to discuss the matter with the sub group on November 1.

MK Bezalel Smotrich noted ironically, “tell me again that we have a right-wing government.”

He said he planned to join a protest event at Khan al-Ahmar at 5 p.m. on Monday, led by the right-wing NGO Regavim. “I call on all coalition member to join us rather than vote in the Knesset. We will tour the place and together we will try to grow a spine.”

Regavim called the delay a “shameful capitulation.”

“For years, Prime Minister Netanyahu has implemented a policy of selective law enforcement against Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. Tonight’s decision reeks of cowardice and makes a laughingstock of Israel’s sovereignty and commitment to law and order.”

“If the Prime Minister does not come to his senses quickly, the blame for this stinging defeat in the battle for Area C and the capitulation to the Palestinian Authority’s hostile takeover will be Netanyahu’s lasting legacy of shame. The Prime Minister cannot shift the blame in the direction of the Supreme Court; he has no one to blame but himself,” Regavim said.

Repeated clashes have broken out at Khan al-Ahmar over the last week, as the IDF completed road work so that it could more easily demolish the village’s tents and shacks. On Friday, border police pepper sprayed protestors. On Thursday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah made a solidarity visit to the village.

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