Merkel urged to protect village

Palestinian schoolchildren in a West Bank hamlet slated for destruction are asking German Chancellor Angela Merkel to intervene on their behalf.

The pupils held posters of Merkel yesterday in Khan Al Ahmar pleading with her to pressure Israel to halt demolition plans for the encampment of corrugated shacks outside an Israeli colony east of occupied Jerusalem.

Merkel is set to arrive today for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli regime says the village was illegally built and offered to resettle residents a few miles away. But Palestinians and other critics say the demolition is aimed at displacing Palestinians in favour of colony expansion.