Khan Al-Ahmar Residents Appeal to Merkel to Help Block Israeli Expulsion

A wastewater pond formed by a spill off from a nearby Jewish settlement is seen in the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar that Israel plans to demolish, in the occupied West Bank October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
A wastewater pond formed by a spill off from a nearby Jewish settlement is seen in the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar that Israel plans to demolish, in the occupied West Bank October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Khan Al-Ahmar Residents Appeal to Merkel to Help Block Israeli Expulsion

A wastewater pond formed by a spill off from a nearby Jewish settlement is seen in the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar that Israel plans to demolish, in the occupied West Bank October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
A wastewater pond formed by a spill off from a nearby Jewish settlement is seen in the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar that Israel plans to demolish, in the occupied West Bank October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Holding posters of Angela Merkel ahead of a scheduled visit to Israel by the German chancellor, Palestinian schoolchildren appealed to her on Tuesday to help block Israeli plans to raze their hamlet in the occupied West Bank.

Khan al-Ahmar’s 180 residents, backed by foreign activists who have gathered at the site, have been waiting for bulldozers to move in at any time after an Oct. 1 deadline from Israel for the villagers to demolish their own homes expired.

Palestinians say razing the village’s tents and tin and wood shacks is part of an Israeli plan to create an arc of Jewish settlements that would effectively cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank, areas captured by Israel in a 1967 war.

Israel, which has long sought to clear the Arab nomads from tracts of land between the settlements of Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim, said Khan al-Ahmar was built without the required permits. Palestinians say such documents are impossible to obtain.

The United Nations, European Union and human rights groups have urged Israel not to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, citing the serious impact on the community and prospects for peace.

Amnesty International has called the Israeli plan a "forcible transfer" and "war crime".

"After nearly a decade of trying to fight the injustice of this demolition, the residents of Khan al-Ahmar now approach the devastating day when they will see their home of generations torn down before their eyes,” Amnesty said in a statement.

"This act is not only heartless and discriminatory; it is illegal. The forcible transfer of the Khan al-Ahmar community amounts to a war crime. Israel must end its policy of destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods to make way for settlements.” 

The expulsion plan includes relocation to an area about 12 km away next to a landfill. Earlier this month, Israel’s Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for eviction after lengthy litigation.

“When I walk to school every day, I’m afraid my school will already have been demolished,” said Muna Abu Dahouk, 12.

She and several other children carried posters of Merkel on which appeals for her help were scrawled.

The German leader is due in Israel on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a government-to-government meeting of Israeli and German ministers.

There was no word from Israel on Tuesday on when the village would be razed amid speculation by pro-Palestinian activists that the eviction would not be carried out until after Merkel leaves late on Thursday.

Next to the encampment, a brown lake of wastewater formed on Tuesday, spill off from a nearby Jewish settlement. Palestinians called it a deliberate attempt to force the Bedouins to leave.

A settlement spokeswoman said the spillage was unintentional and result of a fault in the waste management system. She said a crew was working to repair it.

Most countries consider settlements built by Israel on land it captured in the 1967 Middle East War as illegal and say they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians seek for a viable state. Israel disputes this.



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.