UNITED NATIONS: Eight European countries at the United Nations including five Security Council members on Thursday called on Israel to reverse its decision to demolish a Palestinian village in the West Bank.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands warned that the demolition of the village of Khan Al-Ahmar “would severely threaten the viability of the two-state solution.”
“We therefore call upon the Israeli authorities to reconsider their decision to demolish Khan Al-Ahmar,” the countries said in a joint statement released ahead of a council meeting on the Middle East.
On Sept. 5, Israel’s supreme court upheld an order to raze the village on grounds that it was built without the proper permits.
On Sept 13, Israeli troops removed caravans in the early morning from near the Bedouin village which they have orders to demolish despite international criticism, officials said.
The community of roughly 200 people is located in a strategic spot near Israeli settlements and along a road leading to the Dead Sea.
There have been warnings that continued Israeli settlement construction in that area could divide the West Bank in two and cut it off from Jerusalem, killing off the prospect of amassing contiguous land for a viable future Palestinian state.
Europeans at UN urge Israel not to demolish Palestinian village
Updated 21 September 2018
Europeans at UN urge Israel not to demolish Palestinian village
- The eight countries are France, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Britain, Belgium, Germany and Italy
- They warn the demolition ‘would severely threaten the viability of the two-state solution’
