oPt: "Like an electric shock": Khan Al-Ahmar communities face forced displacement as Israeli authorities open West Bank settlement tenders

Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians On 1 June, Israeli authorities will invite bids from private companies to construct 3,400 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank – a step that would effectively cut off occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank, further fragment Palestinian territory, forcibly displace communities including Khan al-Ahmar and restrict access to essential healthcare. This step would consolidate Israeli control over the corridor linking East Jerusalem to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc – an outcome widely recognised by governments as undermining the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state and violating international law. In a joint statement last week, the UK and partner governments warned that companies involved in such settlement activity may face “legal and reputational consequences.” Palestinian families in Khan Al-Ahmar now face imminent forced displacement after Israeli authorities moved last week to revive long-standing demolition orders against the community. Khan Al-Ahmar is one of 18 Bedouin and herding communities in the path of the plan. Around 4,000 Palestinians across the 18 communities could lose their homes and land. Abu Khamees, a community leader in Khan Al-Ahmar, has lived under the shadow of demolition orders for years. Nothing, he says, prepared him for this. “Families here are not prepared to leave. We had been living in limbo for years given a temporary halt on the demolition order. The decision for imminent forced displacement was like an electric shock to us. People are anxious about where to go with their children as well as how to access essential services like health and education. People here have already been suffering because reaching healthcare has been extremely difficult, with interrupted...

Original source: Relief Web