Israel halts demolition of Bedouin village

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen plans to demolish a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that have drawn international concern, his office said yesterday.

"The intention is to give a chance to the negotiations and the offers we received from different bodies, including in recent days," a statement from Netanyahu's office said about Khan al-Ahmar.

But speaking later ahead of a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Netanyahu appeared to play down the latest move and insisted that the village would still be cleared eventually.

Israeli authorities say the small village, located east of Jerusalem along a road leading to the Dead Sea, was built illegally. The decision to evict the villagers followed years of legal battles and after negotiated attempts to agree on an alternative site for relocation failed.

The fate of Khan al-Ahmar has drawn international concern, with European countries calling on Israel not to move ahead with plans to demolish it. On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor warned that Israel's planned "evacuation by force" of the village could constitute a war crime.

Meanwhile, Israel ordered the country's goods and people border crossings with Gaza to be opened yesterday, just four days after shuttering them following a Palestinian rocket attack that sparked retaliatory strikes.

In another development, Israeli forces arrested the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem for unspecified offences he allegedly committed in the occupied West Bank, the Palestine Liberation Organization said. Adnan Gheith was arrested on Saturday evening in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood Beit Hanina, the PLO said.