Israel Failing to Find Solution for Khan al-Ahmar Which is ‘Becoming a Strategic Event’

By: Baruch Yedid

The State Attorney’s Office submitted on Sunday night a request for another 48-hour extension before the state’s position on the Khan al-Ahmar case is presented, after it was supposed to respond to the petition and inform the High Court when and how it intends to enforce the eviction and demolition orders issued in 2009.

Last September, the state requested an additional extension of six months, while the High Court ruled that “the expectation is that at the end of this period we will be presented with a clear decision after all options have been exhausted.”

The state’s request stated that the draft on its behalf is “in advanced stages of work” but requires “some necessary completions.”

 

Israel

Kobi Eliraz, a former ministerial aid on settlement affairs, who was involved in the discussions, said Monday that “after several petitions were filed, former Defense Minister [Avigdor] Liberman decided to act with all his might and evacuate Khan al-Ahmar, because of the strategic value in the area and the Palestinian effort to build in Area C.”

“However, ever since the High Court ordered the evacuation of the residents, the government has not been able to act accordingly. Unfortunately, Israel has been exposed in its full nakedness and is unable to find a solution to the Khan al-Ahmar issue and the event is becoming a difficult event of strategic importance,” he said.

Israel, meanwhile, is postponing its response and the Khan al-Ahmar residents of the Jahalin tribe told TPS that up to this point none of the Israeli government representatives have spoken to them or presented them with the possibility of moving them 300 meters west of the current location.

“Several weeks ago, Israeli representatives visited a Bedouin concentration east of Road No. 1 and not with the Khan residents who live west of the road,” the residents say. Bedouin representatives say “the government wants to gain time and presents a false solution to the court, no one [state officials] was here and in any case there is no possibility of a solution at a distance of 300 meters. To the north, a deep wadi passes, to the south a power line and a main road, and to the west, the lands of Kfar Adumim. ”

 

Mansour Abbas

Until recently, the heads of the Abu Dahuk family of the Jahalin tribe were in contact with Member of Knesset Mansour Abbas of the Islamist Raam party, who has been handling their case since the death of MK Said Kharumi, who had visited the place several times.

The heads of the families in Khan Al Ahmar say that Abbas promised them to work to transfer them to the Arad Valley in the south, from which they came in 1951, and Abbas raised the possibility of them receiving permanent resident status in Israel and stressed that he “is working quietly so as not to provoke opposition among right-wingers in Israel.” But since then the connection with him has been severed and the Bedouin representatives estimate that “Abbas probably prefers not to interfere with the current government’s proposal to move us from our place to a distance of 300 meters.”

“Only two solutions are acceptable for the residents of Khan, to stay in place or to return to the Arad Valley and receive identity cards from Israel,” say members of the Abu Dahuk family who live there.

“These are 500 people who hope that Mansour Abbas can still secure their future in Arad in Israeli territory,” said one of the family members.

The Negev

The issue of granting residency to the Bedouin was raised as early as 2018 by Yoel Marshak, a member of the kibbutz movement who met with the prime minister at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu wanted to promote the option of voluntary evacuation,” says Marshak, “but did not find a majority in the cabinet. In addition, then-Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman demanded that the issue be referred to the Defense Ministry, and the election campaigns repeatedly postponed the decision.”

In 2019, the Ministry of Defense examined the possibility of relocating the Jahalin from Khan al-Ahmar to the Negev, and a delegation from the ministry toured the valley near Masada. Khan al-Ahmar reiterated that the talks dealt with granting residency to 125 children and 60 adults from the Abu Dahuk family who live there.

A security source confirmed Monday that “several options have been examined in recent years and have been rejected by the Bedouin under significant pressure from the Palestinian Authority, but a number of options for relocating the Bedouin to Israeli territory in the Negev were rejected due to fears of setting a precedent.”

Security officials in Israel feared a precedent that might be created and raised the possibility that this would open the door to tens of thousands of Bedouin in the Ma’ale Adumim and Baka valleys.

 

The Palestinian Authority

Even now, although the defense minister is seeking a compromise that will include the establishment of the illegal outpost in Area C, about 300 near its current location, the Palestinian Authority opposes any arrangement that would lead to the removal of the Khan from its place on the road. Recently, the Committee for the Struggle against the Settlements returned to demonstrate on the spot and announced that if Israel submitted its position to the court, the clashes would resume.

A senior Fatah official says that on the other hand, the Authority is working to settle the Bedouin in E1 areas in permanent buildings and thus preventing Israeli construction in the area, which will create a continuum between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Valley.

An Israeli source says that “the Palestinian Authority has completely taken over the matter because it considers the region to be of strategic importance and has become involved in it completely while Israel has difficulty making decisions.”

The Khan residents who fall between Israel and the PA also say that “on the one hand, Israel is taking time and on the other hand, the Palestinian Authority has been preventing any direct settlement between the residents and Israel for several years.” The Authority prevented their transfer to land that had been prepared with NIS 15 million near Abu Dis, and also refused to approve their transfer to the area of ​​the village of Anata or the Hyrcania Valley.

“Even a lawyer acting on our behalf comes to court hearings only after early consultations in Ramallah and presents arguments that are not acceptable to us,” say the heads of the Abu Dahouk family who live in Khan al-Ahmar, adding that “the lawyer is constantly directing Ramallah so as not to compromise with Israel and not even discuss the various proposals. ”

Marshak, who was also in contact with the Palestinian Authority and reached a signed agreement with the village residents’ lawyer, said the lawyer was fired by the PA two days later because “the PA is not allowing for Jahalin to move from Khan al-Ahmar but wants blood, sweat and tears and a violent struggle to lead the Israeli government to the Hague.”

“Thus, since the court ordered the evacuation of the Bedouin from Khan al-Ahmar, Israel has not been able to find a solution to this matter, which is becoming a strategic event,” an Israeli source concluded.

(TPS)