Right-wing NGO demands High Court order PM to demolish Khan al-Ahmar

A right-wing NGO has filed a petition to the High Court of Justice against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that the top legal body order the premier to fulfill his promise to carry out the demolition of the Bedouin hamlet Khan al-Ahmar.

Last May, the Supreme Court ruled to green light the state’s plans to demolish the central West Bank Palestinian village, which was built without the necessary permits. The government subsequently announced that it intended to raze the compound the next month. However, following intense international pressure, it pushed off its plan in order to attempt to reach an agreement with the roughly 180 residents, where they would agree to leave on their own.

Nearly a year has passed and negotiations have failed to bare fruit. Being behind the initial petitions calling for the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, the Regavim NGO is once again appealing to the High Court after an unsuccessful months long public campaign urging Netanyahu to keep his word.

The group’s petition highlights several public statements made by the prime minister in which he assured that the Palestinian village would be flattened.

“It will be evacuated, with or without consent. It will not take many weeks, it will be much shorter [than that]. A number of vital preparations were made in the international arena and a last chance was given, but in any event, Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated,” Netanyahu told his cabinet in October.

The following month, he told ministers, “Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated very soon … This is our policy, and it will be implemented. I have no intention of postponing this until further notice, contrary to what’s being published, but for [it to be carried out] in a short time.”

The state will now have until May 1 to provide a response to the petition.

However, it is unclear what authority the High Court has over the demolition of the hamlet as its decision last May ruled to green light the state’s plan if it chooses to carry it out.

— Jacob Magid