Quick facts

The name and the parable of the Good Samaritan

The khan is known as Khan al-Ahmar ("the Red Khan") after the colour of the iron-oxide-tinted red limestone in this part of the Jerusalem wilderness, where the road was known in the past as Tal'at al-Damm ("the Ascent of Blood"), for its red rocks and the bandit raids it was notorious for. It is called the Inn of the Good Samaritan because Christian tradition links it to the parable Jesus told in the Gospel of Luke (10:25–37): a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among robbers who wounded him and left him half dead; a priest and then a Levite passed him by, until a Samaritan came, bound his wounds, carried him to an inn, cared for him and paid for his stay. The parable became a symbol of compassion that transcends belonging.

Location

The khan stands beside the old road linking Jerusalem and Jericho through the Jerusalem wilderness, about 18 km from Jerusalem, in desert hill country between the two cities. For centuries this road was the artery connecting Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley and the east bank of the Jordan River. Nearby lie the Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community and the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, built on the area's lands.

History through the ages

• 6th century CE: a Byzantine monastery with a pilgrims' hostel was built on the site, probably over an earlier travellers' inn; remains of the monastery church are still visible.
• Crusader period: the Crusaders built a fortress on a nearby hill to protect pilgrims from robbers on the road.
• 16th century (Ottoman period): a caravan khan was built over the monastery remains, a stop where merchants rested and fed their horses on the road linking the two banks of the Jordan River.
• 20th century: the site was used as a police post.
• 1967: Israel occupied the area along with the rest of the West Bank.
• 2009: the occupation authorities turned the site into a mosaic museum.

The mosaic museum under occupation

In 2009 the occupation authorities set up a mosaic museum in the khan, one of the largest devoted to mosaics, displaying mosaics from churches and various religious sites, some dating to the 4th century CE, along with finds from excavations on the site, including pottery, coins, stone coffins and a carved Byzantine pulpit. The museum is controversial because it was established on occupied land under Israeli military and civil control and holds pieces moved from sites in the occupied territories, contrary to international law, which forbids an occupying power from removing cultural property from the territory it occupies. The monastery church has been rebuilt as a place of worship with an altar, but without a cross or any visible Christian symbol.

The Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin community

Near the khan lies the Khan al-Ahmar community, a Palestinian Bedouin village of some 150–200 people, more than half of them children, from the Jahalin tribe, whom Israel expelled from the Tel Arad area in the Naqab (Negev) in the 1950s. After the 1967 occupation, the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim was built on the area's lands in 1977. In 2009 residents built a school of mud and tyres with help from an Italian organisation, because building with cement was banned; it serves more than 150 pupils from the community and neighbouring communities and has received repeated demolition orders. In September 2018 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled for the community's demolition, but implementation was postponed under international pressure, while the Palestinian government approved a local council for "Khan al-Ahmar village" within the Jerusalem governorate. The displacement targets the area as part of the E1 settlement project, which stretches over some 12,000 dunams from East Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and aims to cut Jerusalem off from its surroundings and split the West Bank. The United Nations has warned that the forced displacement of Khan al-Ahmar's residents could amount to a war crime.

The khan today (2026)

The historic khan remains under the control of the occupation authorities as a mosaic museum. On 19 May 2026 Israel's Finance Minister signed an order for the immediate eviction of the Khan al-Ahmar community and directed "Civil Administration" officials to demolish its buildings, leaving residents under threat of forced displacement at any moment, amid escalating settler attacks and settlement expansion in the West Bank since the genocidal war on Gaza. The khan, the station of compassion in the parable of the Good Samaritan, now bears witness to the suffering of the people of the land being uprooted around it.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

On the road where the wounded man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Khan al-Ahmar has stood for centuries as a stop for pilgrims and caravans. Today, between its walls turned into a museum by the occupation and the Jahalin tents threatened with demolition around it, the khan raises the question of compassion anew before a world that sees the people of the land uprooted and walks on by.