RAMALLAH, May 19, 2026 (WAFA) - Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC), Minister Moayad Shaaban, stated on Tuesday that the decision signed by extremist Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich to move forward with the evacuation of the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community, east of occupied Jerusalem, constitutes a dangerous escalation in the policy of forcible displacement against the Palestinian people.
He said the move clearly exposes the determination of Israel’s far-right government to press ahead with annexation and colonial expansion projects and to impose facts on the ground by force in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Shaaban stressed that the targeting of Khan al-Ahmar comes within the framework of a long-term strategic colonial settlement project aimed at the eastern area of occupied Jerusalem, through which Israel seeks to establish full territorial contiguity between colonies in a way that separates the northern West Bank from its southern part, effectively destroying any possibility of a geographically contiguous and viable Palestinian state.
He added that Khan al-Ahmar has, over the years, become a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness in the face of displacement and uprooting policies, and a living testimony to the colonial nature of the Israeli colonial settlement enterprise. This, he noted, explains Israel’s repeated insistence on displacing its residents and demolishing the community despite broad international opposition to such measures, repeated warnings regarding their political, humanitarian, and legal consequences, and most importantly, the clear position of the International Criminal Court affirming that forcible transfer resulting from such actions constitutes a crime under international law as a war crime.
Shaaban pointed out that the policy of forcible displacement carried out by the occupation authorities against Palestinian Bedouin and pastoral communities constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer of protected persons under occupation. He further emphasized that such practices may amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court due to their direct connection to settlement expansion, annexation policies, and the seizure of land.
He warned that implementing the evacuation order against Khan al-Ahmar would set a dangerous precedent that could accelerate the displacement of dozens of other Palestinian communities in the Jerusalem periphery and the Jordan Valley as part of a broader plan aimed at reshaping Palestinian geography by force and emptying vast areas of their Palestinian inhabitants in favor of colonial settlement expansion.
He called on the international community, the UN, and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to assume their legal, political, and moral responsibilities and take immediate action to halt the policies of forcible displacement and colonial settlement expansion pursued by the Israeli occupation government.
He stressed that continued international silence only encourages the occupation authorities to persist in their violations and further undermines the prospects for achieving a just peace based on international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
K.F.
