Ruptly
"Residents of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian village east of Jerusalem, strongly rejected a decision by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to evacuate the community. Footage filmed on Tuesday shows villagers beside their tin-built homes near the road linking Jerusalem with Jericho and the Dead Sea. Muhammad Abu Dahuk, a resident of Khan al-Ahmar, said the village holds deep personal significance for him, as his family lived there for generations. "I am 56 years old. I was born here, as were my children and grandchildren, so there are three generations here," he said. "We will not leave voluntarily, because we have nowhere else to go. Where would we go? There is no other place for us." Eid Abu Dahuk, head of the Khan al-Ahmar Village Council, said the community had lived in the area since 1952, after being displaced from its lands in 1948. "Khan al-Ahmar is a Palestinian village with a history spanning hundreds of years," he said. "It connects east and west, between Jerusalem and the Arab world." He said residents believed the planned evacuation was part of a wider effort to expand Israeli settlements around East Jerusalem. "If this village is uprooted, there will be a settlement belt around East Jerusalem. [...] The expulsion of the village residents would fulfil their old-new dream of Greater Jerusalem - extending Jerusalem to the borders of the Dead Sea," he explained. Earlier on Tuesday, Smotrich signed an order to evacuate residents from Khan al-Ahmar, using his authority as a minister within Israel's Defence Ministry. The move came after Smotrich accused the Palestinian Authority of involvement in a 'secret arrest order' against him by the International Criminal Court. The ICC has denied issuing such an order. The final decision on the evacuation rests with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He froze a similar order in 2018, despite a court ruling, after international pressure."
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