Doomed Palestinian village turns to Europe as last hope

KHAN AL-AHMAR, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian residents of Khan al-Ahmar cling to hopes that international pressure can save their strategically located West Bank hamlet from Israeli army bulldozers.

After the West Bank hamlet lost its last legal protection against demolition late last week, Israeli forces could swoop in any day now to tear down the tiny desert community’s few dozen shacks and schoolhouse made from recycled tires.

Some hold out hope that Israel might be deterred by an inevitable international outcry over razing the community.

Major European countries have warned that flattening Khan al-Ahmar poses a grave threat to the already fading prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The seemingly outsized international attention being paid to the community is linked to its strategic location in the center of the West Bank.