RAMALLAH, September 5, 2018 (WAFA) – Destroying the village of Khan al-Ahmar, located east of Jerusalem, is a blatant ethnic cleansing, said Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi on Wednesday.

The Israeli High Court gave the military the green light to demolish Khan al-Ahmar village within one week and displace its Palestinian residents.

"The inhumane and immoral decision by Israel‘s High Court of Justice to green light the destruction of the village of Khan al-Ahmar located near occupied Jerusalem reveals Israel‘s intent to erase and eradicate the Palestinian presence and continuity on the land," said Ashrawi in a statement.

"This is blatant ethnic cleansing and constitutes a cause for serious alarm."

Ashrawi stressed that the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and the forcible transfer of its roughly 200 residents, many of whom are children, "set a dangerous legal precedent for the expansion of Israel‘s illegal settlement enterprise, thereby giving clear license to the extremist settlers to embark on a land grab in the occupied West Bank with impunity."

She said that "such a process of displacement, destruction and oppression has been persisting for seventy years as the world remains silent and reluctant to impose sanctions against Israel.”

The PLO official warned that failure to provide protection for the Palestinian people "will lead to further acts of uprooting and dispossession and result in the total destruction of the territorial contiguity and demographic presence of the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem)."

She sent an urgent appeal to all members of the international community to stop the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar immediately.

"We also urge the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the ICC (the International Criminal Court) to convene and guarantee protection for the Palestinian people and accountability for Israel," concluded Ashrawi.

M.K.