Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu presented to the High Court of Justice an official request to postpone a hearing on the petition to evacuate the West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar by an additional six months, to the end of the first quarter of 2021, judicial sources revealed Tuesday.
The petition, requesting that the Israeli government sets a date for the village’s evacuation, was filed by the right-wing NGO Regavim.
It was approved by the court two years ago. A hearing was set for September 30, but the government asked that it be postponed for another six months due to the coronavirus and because the current cabinet was established only in May, following a prolonged political crisis.
In response, Israel's court described on Monday the state request to postpone the hearing as "embarrassing,” saying that in the past, Netanyahu had presented the Court similar requests for the postponement of the orders to demolish the village, offering political and other excuses.
Khan al-Ahmar, 8 km east of Jerusalem, is a small village where about 200 Bedouins live.
Israel did not recognize 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.
In the past years, residents of Khan al-Ahmar, backed by the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah Movement, protested any attempts to demolish the village.
In 2018, dozens of local and international activists and residents held an open sit-in protest at the village to confront the Israeli attempts to displace them.
The European Parliament has also expressed concern at the repercussions of the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, which would further threaten the viability of the two-state solution and undermine prospects for peace.
