Prime Minister Yair Lapid will ask the Supreme Court for a postponement of the evacuation of the illegal Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, Channel 13 News reported on Monday.
This postponement comes after the Bennett government requested a three-month extension. The sensitive issue is being passed on from government to government, five years after the Supreme Court approved the evacuation of the village, for various reasons - elections, international pressure and political sensitivity.
The court had previously ordered the illegal settlement demolished and gave the government until July 2021 to complete its evacuation. However, the government has repeatedly asked the court for extensions of the deadline to evacuate the outpost.
The official answer from the Prime Minister's office will soon be forwarded to the Supreme Court, but it remains unknown whether the court will indeed allow another extension. The last time the Bennett government requested a postponement "due to the Prime Minister's preoccupation with the fighting in Europe", the judges wrote that the conduct of the state is already becoming a disgrace.
In 2019, then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to postpone the implementation of the demolition order, and asked to wait with its implementation until a government is formed after the elections. Lapid will use a similar argument this time as well, and will reply to the court that "the political echelon that will take office after the formation of a new government must be allowed to discuss the issue."
Khan al-Ahmar is an illegal Bedouin outpost in the Mishor Adumim area near Highway 1, where dozens of families live. In 2017, the Civil Administration handed out about 40 demolition orders to all the buildings in Khan al-Ahmar, but the orders were not fulfilled, and about a year later in September 2018, the European Parliament passed a decision stating that the evacuation of the complex would be considered a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.