Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday froze the evictions of four Palestinian families from the flashpoint east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where they have battled attempts by Jewish settler groups to oust them.
Justice Isaac Amit, in a ruling by a three-judge panel, wrote the families would be recognized as protected tenants and would pay a Jewish settler group a symbolic annual rent of 2,400 shekels (about $740) “until a determination of … land rights.”
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Sheikh Jarrah has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israeli control of Jerusalem.
The land rights battle between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the neighborhood has sparked clashes and partly fueled the 11-day war in May between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian family received their eviction order in November, with a deadline to vacate by March 1.
A lawyer for the family, Medhat Diba, said the Jerusalem Magistrate’s court agreed to suspend the eviction until it ruled on an appeal launched by the Palestinians.
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