Khan al Ahmar: A symbol of Netanyahu's tension with the High Court - opinion

• Published date: 27 January 2023

One of the leaders of the Bedouin Jahalin tribe scattered throughout the mountains that descend from Jerusalem in the direction of the Dead Sea, Abu Hamis has lived in Khan Al Ahmar since he was born, in the mid-1950s. We are sitting inside his family's compound in a Bedouin Palestinian village that has lived under the specter of evacuation for the last four-and-a-half years

If there is a place where the contradictions inherent in Israel's new government come to life, it is this tiny village tucked away along the side of a highway near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Adumim.

On the one hand, Khan Al Ahmar is proof of how governments and particularly prime ministers throw out slogans and don't act on them.

The village was approved for demolition and evacuation in May 2018. The High Court of Justice, petitioned by the right-wing Regavim Movement, gave the government the green light to dismantle the village and forcibly move its residents elsewhere. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to do so.

"Khan al-Ahmar will be evacuated, with or without an agreement. It will not take weeks; it will be much shorter," Netanyahu said, more than four years ago. A lot of time has passed – Netanyahu was prime minister for most of it – and Khan al Ahmar is still standing.

What makes this situation ironic is that it was the High Court of Justice that gave the approval to remove the village. That is right. The same court that Netanyahu and his political allies want to demolish, the court that the coalition claims is run by left-wing justices who are all about preventing the government from enacting its policies, is the one which gave Netanyahu the approval to do so.

In an ironic twist, instead of demolishing the village that the court approved for demolition, Netanyahu's government today prefers to demolish the court. Makes sense, right?

Upcoming turning point

This is all important to keep in mind since on Wednesday, February 1, the state will again have to appear before the court and reveal what it plans to do: will it finally evacuate the 300 or so residents or will it again stall for time as it has repeatedly done in the past?

All indications are that Netanyahu will punt. The reason is twofold: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Israel within days of the court hearing and Netanyahu does not want to sour a meeting whose purpose is to prepare for another meeting he is looking forward to having at the White House next...