Palestinian horse centre vows to rebuild after West Bank demolition
It was 07:30 in the morning in late January when Khaled Ifranji received the phone call he had always feared. He had just passed through an Israeli military checkpoint on his way from his home in occupied East Jerusalem to his work in the occupied West Bank, when one of his employees rang to say the Israeli army was “demolishing the stables”.
Khaled had spent the last seven years building the Palestine Equestrian Club - pouring all his money and every waking hour into the project.
Khaled says his first concern was that there were still horses inside the stables. A video he shared with the BBC shows a digger striking a building while horses can be seen inside.
The Israeli army has confirmed to the BBC the demolition took place on 30 January but disputes Khaled’s allegation that horses were still inside when it happened, despite the video evidence.
