British MPs urge intervention to stop Israeli demolition of Palestinian village

More than two dozen British parliamentarians have urged the government to help thwart a possible Israeli demolition of an entire Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities could soon forcibly displace the residents of Palestinian Bedouin community Khan Al-Ahmar, the destruction of which would include the community’s school, made of tyres and mud, which educates 170 children aged between six and 14 years old.

The letter to Alistair Burt, minister of state for the Middle East at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, was signed by 26 cross-party MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Scottish National Party.

Read: For Israel displacing Bedouins is financially rewarding

The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), announcing the MPs’ letter, noted that many of the signatories have previously visited the village as part of parliamentary delegations.

On 25 September, the Israeli Supreme Court will hold a hearing on two cases: “a petition filed by the community’s lawyer against the demolition order, while the second is a court case filed by settler movements calling for the destruction of the village’s only school to more than 150 children”.

The United Nations’ senior humanitarian official in the occupied Palestinian territory tweeted this week: “All eyes on the Bedouin community of #AlKhanAlAhmar at risk of forcible transfers by Israeli authorities over the coming days”.

All eyes on the Bedouin community of #AlKhanAlAhmar at risk of forcible transfers by Israeli authorities over the coming days. pic.twitter.com/DHQGeDmMWP

— Robert Piper (@UNPiper) September 21, 2017