DOOMED PALESTINIAN VILLAGE

DOOMED PALESTINIAN village turns to Europe as last hope..................

FOR the anxious Palestinian residents of Khan al-Ahmar village there's very little to do but wait.

After the West bank hamlet lost the last legal protection against demolition last week, Israeli forces could sweep in any day now to tear down the desert community's few dozen shacks and an Italian-funded school house made from recycles tires.

Some hold out hope that that Israel might be deterred by an inevitable international outcry over razing the community. Major European countries have warned that flattening Khan al-Ahmar poses a grave threat to the already fading prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The seemingly outsized international attention being paid to the tiny community is linked to the strategic location in the center of the West Bank.

It's an area deemed essential for setting up a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in 1967.

Israel has portrayed the battle over Khan al-Ahmar as a mere zoning dispute.

Critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's  policies say village has become a symbol for what they describe as an ongoing displacement of Palestinians to make room for Israeli settlements.

With demolition now looming, dozens of activists, including foreigners, have been spending nights in Khan al-Ahmar to show support. They sleep on mattresses spread out under green tarp covering the front yard of  the Italian-funded school.

''We cannot prevent demolition,'' said activist Mohammed Abu Hilweh, 30, from Jerusalem, as he stretched out on a mattress on a recent evening, settling in for the night; ''But we can resist, delay and when it happens, we can rebuild,'' he said.

Khan al-Ahmar is located a few dozen meters from a four-lane highway that runs east-west, effectively slicing the West Bank in half at a narrow waist and linking Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley.

The highway is also flanked by several Israeli settlements, including Maaleh Adumim, the West Bank's third largest. A new settlement along highway from Maaleh Adumim, called EI by Israeli planners, sould effectively block the remaining land link between-

West Bank Palestinians and east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital. Khan aI-Ahmar sits just outside the area mapped for EI, which until now had largely been frozen under US pressure.

The sad honors and serving continues.[Agencies]