Critics argue that the location of the illegal encampment is specifically intended to block future development plans, including Jewish housing projects, road networks, and municipal expansion.
By Hezy Laing
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded to reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor sought a secret arrest warrant against him by declaring his intent to remove an illegal Bedouin settlement near Jerusalem.
Smotrich said that if the Palestinian Authority (which instigated the ICC move) wanted war it would get it.
Retaliating directly against the PA, Smotrich signed an official order to initiate the immediate evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar, an illegal Bedouin settlement that prevents Jewish construction between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumum.
Leveraging his authority as a minister within the Defense Ministry, Smotrich ordered his representative in the Civil Administration to evacuate the illegal settlers as soon as possible.
To carry out the evacuation, the Civil Administration, backed by IDF units and the Israel Border Police, will secure the perimeter.
The Border Guards will then physically remove the roughly 200 residents, while military engineering bulldozers demolish the structures.
In the past few years, the IDF has demolished dozens of Jewish outposts, while conspicuously avoiding Khan al‑Ahmar.
Khan al‑Ahmar is a Bedouin settlement located between Jerusalem an Ma’ale Adumim, in the area known as the E1 corridor.
The site developed without formal planning approval, and most of its structures, were built without permits under Israeli planning law on state land.
The location of Khan al‑Ahmar has become a focal point of political and legal debate because it sits in a strategic corridor between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.
Israeli planners have long viewed the E1 area as essential for creating territorial continuity between the capital and Maaleh Adumim to the east.
Critics argue that the location of the Bedouin encampment is specifically intended to block future development plans, including Jewish housing projects, road networks, and municipal expansion.
Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled multiple times that the structures at Khan al‑Ahmar were built illegally and that the state has the authority to dismantle them.
Despite these rulings, successive Israeli governments have refrained from carrying out demolition orders.
The hesitation stems from a combination of diplomatic pressure, international criticism, and concerns about regional stability.
European governments, the United Nations, and leftwing “human‑rights” organizations all oppose evacuation.
As a result, although the legal framework permits removal, political considerations have repeatedly delayed action, leaving Khan al‑Ahmar to prevent the unification of Maaleh Adumim with Jerusalem.
