{"id":4623,"date":"2018-09-05T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/?p=4623"},"modified":"2020-02-10T09:13:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T09:13:16","slug":"israeli-judges-give-final-approval-for-war-crime-in-khan-al-ahmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/?p=4623","title":{"rendered":"Israeli judges give final approval for war crime in Khan al-Ahmar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tamara Nassar<\/a> <\/a>Rights and Accountability<\/a> 5 September 2018 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Palestinian children watch as a bulldozer operated by the Israeli army makes preparations to demolish their occupied West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar on 4 July.  (Oren Ziv ActiveStills) \/

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s high court gave the final approval for the forced displacement of the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar<\/a> in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision will make the judges complicit in a war crime if the demolition \u2013 which could happen within days \u2013 takes place, the Israeli human rights group B\u2019Tselem<\/a> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court had initially approved<\/a> the demolition of the entire village in May, but the action was temporarily halted<\/a> in July after attorneys for Khan al-Ahmar\u2019s nearly 200 residents filed two petitions in the high court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judges accepted one of the petitions and held hearings in August.On Wednesday, the high court denied the petition, lifted the temporary stay and gave Israeli authorities the all-clear to expel the residents within a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judges \u201csaid the main issue in the case was not whether the eviction could be carried out, but where the residents would be relocated,\u201d Israeli daily Haaretz<\/em>reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel wants to forcibly displace the residents of Khan al-Ahmar to an area near a garbage dump called al-Jabal West<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the judges rejected the villagers\u2019 request to pause the evacuation until they find an alternative place to live, and criticized their refusal to live near the garbage dump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long before Wednesday\u2019s court decision, Israel began preparations<\/a> to demolish the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No justice in Israeli courts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In their ruling, the Israeli high court judges \u201cdescribed an imaginary world with an egalitarian planning system that takes into account the needs of the Palestinians, as if there had never been an occupation,\u201d B\u2019Tselem said on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reality is diametrically opposed to this fantasy: Palestinians cannot build legally and are excluded from the decision-making mechanisms that determine how their lives will look,\u201d the group added. \u201cThe planning systems are intended solely for the benefit of the settlers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis ruling shows once again that those under occupation cannot seek justice in the occupier\u2019s courts,\u201d B\u2019Tselem said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli leaders celebrate war crime<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Israeli leaders congratulated the judges for approving the forced displacement of the community, which is a war crime<\/a> under international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the laws governing military occupation, an occupier can only displace people in case of military necessity. But Israel wants to clear the residents of Khan al-Ahmar from an area east of Jerusalem where it is engaged in intense colonization \u2013 also in violation of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yuli Edelstein<\/a>, the speaker of the Israeli parliament and a member of the ruling Likud Party, boasted on Twitter that \u201cpressure\u201d from the European Union had done nothing to stop the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Israel there is a law and everyone is equal before it,\u201d Edelstein claimed \u2013 precisely the opposite of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European diplomats have paid visits<\/a> to Khan al-Ahmar in the past year to show support for the community, but other than such symbolism, the European Union \u2013 which provides Israel with large amounts of aid and trade \u2013 has taken no action to hold Israel accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the EU has done nothing<\/a> when Israel has demolished or confiscated schools<\/a> or other buildings it or its member states have funded for Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European diplomats reportedly told Israeli media<\/a> that going ahead with the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar \u201cwould trigger a reaction from EU member states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But given the EU\u2019s record of inaction, such warnings should be taken with a large dose of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman<\/a> also rejoiced at the court\u2019s decision, tweeting that \u201cKhan al-Ahmar will be evacuated.\u201dHe praised the judges for \u201ca brave and necessary decision in the face of an orchestrated campaign of hypocrisy by Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas], the left and the European countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late Wednesday, EU spokespersons had yet to issue a reaction to the court\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tamara Nassar Rights and Accountability 5 September 2018 Palestinian children watch as a bulldozer operated by the Israeli army makes preparations to demolish their occupied West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar on 4 July.  (Oren Ziv ActiveStills) \/ Israel\u2019s high court gave the final approval for the forced displacement of the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4623\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}