Palestinian children queue up before the early start of classes at a school in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank on July 16, 2018. (AFP photo)
RAMALLAH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians are seeking international intervention to stop an Israeli court's decision to demolish the Palestinian Bedouin village near East Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said Thursday.
Reyad al-Malki, minister of foreign affairs in the Palestinian Authority consensus government, told the official Palestinian radio station Voice of Palestine that the Palestinians efforts include a campaign at the United Nations Security Council.
"The Palestinian side will ask for an emergency meeting for the Security Council to discuss the issue," al-Malki said.
"In case the United States vetoes the bid, we will apply to the UN General Assembly," he added.
The Palestinian side will also appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for UN intervention to protect the residents of the Bedouin village and other Bedouin communities in the area, the top Palestinian diplomat stated.
A day earlier, the Israeli Supreme Court decided to demolish the village within one week after rejecting the villagers' appeal to cancel the decision, which largely outraged the Palestinians.
Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, a Bedouin area near the Ma'aleh Adumim and Kfar Adumim settlements east of Jerusalem, is home to about 200 Palestinian Bedouins living in tents and tin shacks, among whom 53 percent are children and 95 percent are Palestinian refugees registered at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
In May, the Israeli Supreme Court decided to demolish the village, which has a school serving 170 pupils.
The village is surrounded by a number of Israeli settlements. It is part of the land the Israeli authorities are targeting to implement its "E1" settlement project, which the Palestinians say threatens the prospect of the two-state solution.
Regarding Paraguay's decision to move its embassy back to Tel Aviv, al-Malki said "the Palestinian diplomacy did a mission impossible and succeeded in convincing the Paraguayan officials to change their position."
