JERUSALEM: Israel’s top court on Wednesday approved another delay to the demolition of a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that drew international concern.
The government is locked in a legal battle with a right-wing Israeli NGO over the proposed demolition of Khan Al-Ahmar, situated east of Jerusalem along a road leading to the Dead Sea.
The hamlet was set to be evacuated and demolished three years ago after it was ruled to have been built illegally, and attempts to agree on an alternative site for relocation failed.
Khan Al-Ahmar’s fate drew international concern, with European countries calling on Israel not to move ahead with plans to demolish it, and in October 2018, the office of then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze the demolition plans.
Regavim, a right-wing Israeli organization that supports Jewish settlements, in 2019 filed a petition to the supreme court demanding the state uphold its previous commitment to remove Khan Al-Ahmar.
The state repeatedly requested more time to submit its response, with the court setting September 5 as a deadline.
On that day, the state asked the court for six more months, citing “progress” on the issue, and on Wednesday, a three-judge panel approved the decision.
Justice Noam Sohlberg said the court had accepted “the state’s claim on significant progress,” and requested an update in March.
Foreign states have told Israel that demolishing the village, home to around 200 residents, would mark a violation of international law.
Israel court again delays ruling on demolition of Bedouin village
https://arab.news/8ph6z
Israel court again delays ruling on demolition of Bedouin village
- The government is locked in a legal battle with a right-wing Israeli NGO over the proposed demolition of Khan al-Ahmar
- Khan al-Ahmar's fate drew international concern, with European countries calling on Israel not to move ahead with plans to demolish it
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
