TEL AVIV, Israel (Transatlantic Today) – The Supreme Court of Israel has decided that a bunch of Palestinian families set to be evicted from the disputed East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah can stay in their houses for the time being.
The court decided on Tuesday that the 4 families may remain in their houses until Israel carries out a land deal, a procedure that might take years or never take place.
According to Al Jazeera, the verdict marks the conclusion of a decades-long campaign for Palestinian inhabitants to remain in their houses, and it may help to relieve tensions in Sheikh Jarrah and some other neighborhoods, where demonstrations and violence triggered Israel’s 11-day bombing of Gaza last year.
The family turned down an offer from Israel’s top court in August to be registered as safeguarded tenants in return for acknowledging Israeli control of their properties.
According to Gaal Yanovski, advocacy coordinator at Ir Amim, a Jerusalem anti-settlement organization, the new verdict leaves the property’s ultimate status up to a ruling by an office under Israel’s Justice ministry.
In 1972, numerous Jewish settler groups launched a case over Palestinian families residing in Sheikh Jarrah, claiming that the property belonged to Jews initially. Thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their property and land after Israel was formed in 1948, according to Palestinian activists. Their return has never been permitted by Israel.
In the 1967 war, Israel took East Jerusalem, together with the West Bank, and seized it in a move that was largely ignored by the international world.
As a result, several Palestinian households in East Jerusalem have been threatened with displacement, and hundreds more face destruction. Palestinians find it exceedingly difficult to build new houses or extend existing ones due to Israel’s discriminatory laws.
Tensions flared last month in Sheikh Jarrah as Israeli police on horses dispersed protestors who had gathered to support Palestinians fearing expulsion by Jewish settlers.
The Israeli court system has no legal power over the people it occupies under international law.
East Jerusalem is home to around 200,000 Israeli residents who are protected by the police and army, with the biggest single settlement structure sheltering 44,000 Israelis.
Sheikh Jarrah is an example of a larger pattern of forced relocation in Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Under international law, Israel’s settlement project, which aims to consolidate Israel’s sovereignty over the city, is likewise deemed unlawful.
