UN decries Israeli plans to demolish Bedouin community

GENEVA — The UN on Tuesday voiced concerns over a Palestinian Bedouin community at risk of being demolished by Israel within days. 

“We are deeply concerned at reports that the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan Al Ahmar-Abu Al Helu is set to be demolished by the Israeli authorities in the coming days,” Liz Throssell, UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman, told a press conference at the UN in Geneva on Tuesday.

Noting that the community is home to 181 people — more than half of them children — Throssell said: “We call on the Israeli authorities not to proceed with the demolition of Khan Al Ahmar-Abu Al Helu, to respect the rights of residents to remain on their land and have their status regularised.”

For more than a decade, residents of Khan Al Ahmar, located near illegal Israeli settlements, have resisted efforts to move to make way for settlement expansion.

“Legal avenues to resist ended on May 24, 2018 when the Israeli High Court ruled there was no reason to delay implementation of demolition orders over the structures in the community, including a school,” Throssell said.

According to the UN, the planning regime adopted by Israel in this area is “discriminatory” and violates international law.

“Any demolitions undertaken in this context would likely amount to forced evictions and a violation of the right to housing of individuals living in the community,” she said.

International humanitarian law prohibits the forced transfer of the population of an occupied territory and the destruction or confiscation of private property by the occupying power, she added.