Fights broke out between Palestinian Bedouin villagers and the Israeli Army as bulldozers began to level the village of Khan al-Ahmar, which is located in the occupied West Bank.
Videos have circulated widely showing the scuffles and subsequent arrests of some Palestinian Bedouins. Protesters sought to stop bulldozers in their tracks, but were quickly confronted by Israeli military forces, who forcibly pushed them out of the way.
Khan al-Ahmar stands in the way of planned Israeli settlements inside the occupied West Bank—settlements that are deemed illegal under international law.
International law evidently matters little in the occupied West Bank, at least compared to laws Israel enforces in the region. Israel deemed Khan al-Ahmar illegal because villagers did not receive building permits for their structures. Villagers themselves claim these permits are virtually impossible to obtain.
Medical staff near the scuffles treated dozens of individuals for injuries.
Khan al-Ahmar is not the only Bedouin Palestinian village deemed ‘illegal’ and thus its very existence precarious. Dozens of other Bedouin villages are also unauthorized by Israel, and some have been razed only to be rebuilt shortly thereafter.
RT Mondoweiss "RT theIMEU: Breaking: Israeli forces violently attacked Palestinian demonstrators protesting the demolition of the occupied Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, which will forcibly displace 200 residents to make way for the continuous exp… pic.twitter.com/lEJpIRMwHU"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) July 4, 2018
One such village, al-Araqib, has been reportedly demolished and rebuilt a staggering 129 times. Most recently, Israeli forces and bulldozers razed the village on June 7.
The biggest target of the bulldozers is often schools, which are some of the only permanent structures built thanks to funding from the international community.
The European Union (E.U.) funded a school’s construction in the Bedouin village of Abu Nuwar only for Israeli forces to tear it down at least five times.
Many Palestinian politicians and activists claim Israel is trying to ethnically cleanse areas of the occupied West Bank. Israel consistently tries to re-settle the villagers into clusters of Palestinian towns although villagers have now made a habit of resisting and rebuilding their homes nearby.
