Arab stone-throwers attacked Israeli cars as they drove on the road next to the illegal Bedouin encampment of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem.
First built in the 1990s, Khan al-Ahmar is today home to between 170 to 180 squatters.
The encampment is built adjacent to Highway 1, on land belonging to the nearby Israeli town of Kfar Adumim, and successive court decisions have ruled against the residents of Khan al-Ahmar.
In September, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a final appeal submitted on behalf of Khan al-Ahmar, and ordered that demolition orders against the encampment be carried out.
Last week, however, the Israeli cabinet voted to delay the implementation of the demolition orders in a bid to negotiate the voluntary resettlement of the residents to a different site in the area.
On Monday, stone-throwers attacked Israeli cars driving between Kfar Adumim to the neighboring Israeli town of Mishor Adumim.
One vehicle was hit and damaged after it came under a barrage of stones thrown from Khan al-Ahmar.
The driver, Reuven Tzinani of Mitzpeh Yericho, was not injured in the attack.
“I was driving towards Mishor Adumim,” Tzinani said. “As I was passing Khan al-Ahmar, I felt and heard something hit the car, and immediately afterwards the passenger-side window of the car was smashed. I kept driving until I reached the Mishor Adumim junction, and there I stopped to check out the damage. After I saw that the car was okay, the damage notwithstanding, I drove to the police to file a complaint.”
Yisrael Gantz, deputy council chief for the Binyamin Regional Council and a candidate for council chief in tomorrow’s election, called on the government to carry out the Supreme Court’s order against the illegal Bedouin settlement.
“The attempt to murder an Israeli citizen from Khan al-Ahmar while [the citizen] was driving down Highway 1 in the State of Israel proves more than a 1,000 witnesses could that the Prime Minister must not attempt to negotiate a settlement with [Khan al-Ahmar] which would leave the Bedouin in the greater Adumim area. We demand that he uphold the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the [squatters’] removal to the Abu Dis area immediately.”