Holy Land: Rabbis intervene to protect Khan al Ahmar

After Rabbis for Human Rights' intervention, one small example of the ongoing abuse of residents at Khan al Ahmar, (the Bedouin village near Bethlehem threatened with demolition) was halted.

Last week sewage from the Kfar Adumim settlement was pumped into the village. According to sources in the regional council, this was due to a fault in the sewage system in the settlement.

The flowing sewage created a large pool a few meters from the residents, constituting a health hazard as well as a severe impingement on the lives of residents due to the terrible smell. It should be noted that in the last decade there have already been four similar episodes.

A few days after the incident, a pumping truck was sent to the area but it did not have the capacity to manage the problem. Only a week after the appearance of the pool and after turning to parties in Kfar Adumim itself, known for their support of the rights of their neighbours, did the regional council successfully work to pump out the sewage.

This relatively small anecdote is grotesquely apropos of the future that awaits the residents of the village of Khan al-Ahmar if - God forbid - the plan to demolish their village and forcibly expel them is implemented: one of the proposed locations for their expulsion is a landfill while the other is near a sewage treatment site. This small (and stinking) ordeal they were forced to endure over the past week would become part of their regular every day lives in addition to the accompanying environmental and health hazards it would bring.

For further information see: PDF file - https://rhr.org.il/eng/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/KhanAlAchmarfactsheet1.pdf

and fact sheet - https://rhr.org.il/eng/2018/10/following-call-from-rhr-sewage-pool-at-bedouin-village-khan-al-ahmar-pumped-out/

Read more about Rabbis for Human Right here: http://rhr.org.il/eng/