New field documentation by Regavim reveals that the illegal outpost of Khan al-Ahmar continues to expand, even a year and a half after the most recent developments in its legal saga. Since Regavim first brought attention to this illegal site 14 years ago, Khan al-Ahmar has become a central issue in the struggle over the Adumim Region and the broader area of Judea and Samaria.
The expansion of Khan al-Ahmar underscores growing concerns over the enforcement of legal decisions and the broader implications for strategic control in this sensitive region. As has been the case for decades, Khan al-Ahmar represents an existential battleground between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Located at the narrowest point of the peanut-shaped “west bank,” Khan al-Ahmar dominates the E1 corridor, which in turn dominates the future of a Palestinian State.
If Israel succeeds in evacuating the squatters from Khan al-Ahmar, it could finally go about constructing a sprawling suburb of Jerusalem, connecting the capital with the Maale Adumim region. As a result, all hope for a contiguous Palestinian State would vanish.
Regavim stated in a letter that “These new structures highlight the alarming trend of illegal Palestinian Authority appropriations in Area C,” the Regavim letter states, “particularly in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, posing an imminent strategic threat to Israel’s capital.”