OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich signed an immediate order Tuesday to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community in eastern occupied Jerusalem and forcibly displace all of its Palestinian residents, as a response to reported moves by the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant against him.
“The Palestinian Authority has declared war on us, and I will respond with war using my powers,” Smotrich said in press remarks, adding that he would target any economic or other Palestinian Authority interests within his authority.
Smotrich also said he intends to bring about a “revolution” in the occupied West Bank after being informed that the ICC in The Hague was preparing to issue an arrest warrant against him.
Khan al-Ahmar is home to around 200 Palestinians living in tin structures and tents. The community has faced repeated Israeli efforts to displace its residents to make way for the major settlement project known as E1.
The village is surrounded by Israeli settlements and lies in an area targeted by Israel for the project, which would include more than 3,500 settlement units and link the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to West Jerusalem.
Palestinians and rights groups say the plan would isolate occupied Jerusalem from its surroundings and split the West Bank in two.
The E1 settlement project has drawn broad international opposition because its implementation would severely undermine the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state.
