Khan al-Ahmar

I might be wrong, but if my memory serves me, there were discussions taking place between the 180 residents of Khan al-Ahmar from the Jahalin Bedouin tribe and Israeli authorities to find a suitable location for them to move and the allocation of budget for the move. Initially the government wanted to force these Bedouin residents to move to Abu Dis, next to a garbage dump. I visited that spot and I can testify that it is unfit for human residence. But I was told by some of the Khan al-Ahmar residents and some of their Jewish friends that there were alternative plans being discussed with them as well. Those plans got trashed when on one side right-wing Israelis demanded that the small “village” be demolished and on the other side when the Palestinian Authority took over the struggle and turned it into a national case against the continued nakba of the Palestinian people. Before Israel’s establishment, the Jahalin tribe lived in the area of Tel Arad in the Negev, located in present-day Israel. Following the 1948 war, the Israeli military forced them out of their villages and into the West Bank; they settled in the area of the Israeli settlement Mishor Adumim in the early 1970s. Most of the villagers live in makeshift tin shacks or tents, and make their living off grazing. This is a very poor community and surely their lives could be significantly improved with not too much money and some good will. The ruling of the High Court, opposed to what most Israelis believe, was not that the government must demolish the village. The court ruled that the government could demolish the village. There is a difference. I would suggest that this is the time for quiet diplomacy between the Israeli government and the residents of Khan al-Ahmar. For one, the PA is in a deep state of paralysis and dysfunction, and we have a new Israeli government that could actually try something new. Perhaps a decent area could be found for them to resettle, the government could prepare suitable infrastructure and allocate land and even provide loan guarantees or some money for them to start a new life with a much higher standard of living. The school that was built in Khan al-Ahmar by the residents and volunteers with international assistance could be replaced by a modern well-equipped building provided by Israel and the international community. Wouldn’t that be a much better end to this story which has been going on for about 10 years?

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