Israeli artillery units and military vehicles are seen in formation in northern Israel May 4, 2026, on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border. (OSV News photo/Avi Ohayon, Reuters) Israel’s finance minister wants to evict the Bedouins from Khan al-Ahmar. Human rights activists fear this will have repercussions across the entire occupied West Bank. And they warn that it could spell the end of the two-state solution.
Israeli activists are sounding the alarm following the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied Palestinian territories is to be forcibly evicted. “The displacement of Palestinian communities is not merely the result of isolated incidents or settler violence, but part of a broader political context that enables and drives dispossession,” wrote the Israeli organisation Bimkom, which campaigns for democracy and human rights in the field of spatial planning, on Tuesday.
The village of Khan al-Ahmar has become “one of the clearest symbols of the struggle against forced displacement in the occupied West Bank”. In the case of the Bedouin village between Jerusalem and Jericho, broad local and international support has so far prevented repeated attempts at eviction. In particular, Khan al-Ahmar’s internationally renowned and supported school has become a symbol of resilience and resistance against displacement.
A message not just for Khan al-Ahmar
According to Bimkom, the displacement of the community would send “a clear message about the future of vulnerable Palestinian communities across the West Bank and the direction of Israeli policy in the region”.
The Israeli organisation “Peace Now” describes this as a vendetta by Smotrich. The far-right politician, who is not only Finance Minister but also, as a minister in the Ministry of Defence, has control over all civilian affairs in the occupied territories, had justified the order to evacuate the Bedouin village by citing the request for an international arrest warrant against him and other Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Attempt to prevent a peaceful solution
The expulsion is part of a broader government plan to take control of the entire central West Bank and remove all Palestinian communities from the region, Peace Now stated. The plan is cynical, destructive and could ruin any prospects for future peace and a resolution to the conflict. By evicting the Bedouins, the Israeli government aims to prevent a two-state solution and to press ahead with the controversial ‘E1’ settlement project in the corridor between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.