© Jaclynn Ashly
Khan al-Ahmar, occupied West Bank
Children laugh and play in the small Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, located east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, jumping on tin sheets laid out on the ground and throwing any object they retrieve from the dirt at one another.
The children's loud giggling and the wide smiles of the women, who energetically offer visitors tea and juice, belie the reality:
the entire community could be demolished by the Israeli government at any moment.
Last week, Israel's Supreme Court ruled to allow the state to demolish Khan al-Ahmar, including a medical clinic, mosque, and a school made from mud and tires built by an Italian NGO almost a decade ago. The demolition could be carried out at any time as of next month.
"We can't do anything except wait for the Israelis to come," Eid Abu Khamis, a leader of the Bedouin in the area and a resident of Khan al-Ahmar, told Mondoweiss. "Unlike Israel, the United States does not fund us to
obtain F-35 jets. We don't have tanks. We have nothing but our people's will and resilience."
"If they come to demolish the village, they will have to forcibly carry me off the land if they want me to leave," Abu Khamis said. "We are not leaving and we will continue to resist by remaining on our land."
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