Netanyahu delays demolition of West Bank hamlet to enable talks

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he has decided to postpone the planned demolition of a West Bank hamlet to allow time for a negotiated solution with its residents, in a move that appeared aimed at staving off the fierce international condemnation such a demolition would likely entail.

Israel has come under heavy criticism, with major European countries urging it to avoid the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar. The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor recently said that such a move could constitute a war crime.

Israeli officials said alternative solutions in recent days have come from various sources and Netanyahu wanted to give them a chance.

“Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated… it’s a court ruling; that’s our policy and it will be done,” he said. “I have no intention of postponing this until further notice, contrary to reports, but rather for a short, defined period of time.”

Israel says the Palestinian Bedouin encampment of corrugated shacks outside an Israeli settlement was illegally built in an unsafe location near a major highway. It has offered to resettle residents a few kilometres away in what it says are improved conditions – with connections to water, electricity and sewage they lack. ANA