The head of the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission, Minister Muayyad Sha’ban, warned Tuesday that the decision signed by fanatic Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich to advance the eviction and displacement of the Bedouin community of Khan al‑Ahmar, east of occupied Jerusalem, marks a dangerous escalation in Israel’s policy of forced transfer against the Palestinian population.
He said the move exposes the Israeli government’s determination to press ahead with annexation plans, expand its colonial project, and impose new facts on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Sha’ban said in a statement that the targeting of Khan al‑Ahmar is part of a long‑term colonial strategy aimed at the eastern corridor of occupied Jerusalem, where Israel seeks to create a continuous colonial belt that would sever the northern West Bank from its southern areas. He stressed that such a plan would effectively eliminate any possibility of establishing a geographically connected and viable Palestinian state.
He added that Khan al‑Ahmar has, over the past years, become a symbol of Palestinian resilience in the face of displacement and land confiscation, and a clear illustration of the colonial nature of Israel’s settlement enterprise.
This, he said, explains the repeated Israeli attempts to forcibly remove the community despite broad international opposition, repeated warnings about the political, humanitarian, and legal consequences, and the explicit position of the International Criminal Court affirming that forced transfer constitutes a war crime.
Sha’ban noted that Israel’s policy of forcibly displacing Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer of protected populations under occupation.
He said these practices fall within actions that may amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, given their direct connection to colonial expansion, annexation, and the seizure of Palestinian land.
Sha’ban warned that carrying out the eviction of Khan al‑Ahmar would set a dangerous precedent that could accelerate the displacement of dozens of other Palestinian communities around Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, as part of a broader plan to reshape Palestinian geography by force and empty large areas of their residents for colonial expansion.
The official also called on the international community, the United Nations, and the states party to the Geneva Conventions to uphold their legal, political, and moral responsibilities and act immediately to stop Israel’s policies of forced transfer and colonial settlement.
He stressed that continued international silence only encourages the occupying power to escalate its violations and further undermine what remains of the prospects for real, comprehensive peace based on international law and all UN resolutions.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
