Deepali Kalia-
Published on August 03, 2021, at 06:44 PM
On 2nd August, the Supreme Court of Israel proposed a compromise in order to prevent the eviction of four Palestinian families totaling about 70 people from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
The attempt by the Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinians from the sensitive neighborhood had helped trigger an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in May.
The compromise proposed by the Supreme Court of Israel to accord the Palestinian families facing eviction protected tenancy. Hence, permitting them to stay in the houses they have in Sheikh Jarrah.
However, since the compromise doesn’t give Palestinian families ownership over their homes, therefore, they will continue to face the threat of dispossession as a result.
The Palestinian families have been given a week to consider the compromise and present the Court with a list of names for the protected tenancy.
Jewish settlers have been waging a campaign for over a decade to evict the families stating that their homes were built on land originally owned by Jewish organizations before 1948.
A law which has been passed by the Parliament of Israel in 1970 permits the Jewish people to reclaim the property previously owned by them in the East Jerusalem.
However, Palestinians possess no such right to reclaim a property previously owned by them in West Jerusalem.
The cases regarding eviction have gone through the legal system for years and the Lower Courts have sided with the Jewish settlers and approved the eviction of four families.
It the month of May the Supreme Court was scheduled to issue its ruling in the sensitive case but delayed its decision upon the Israel’s Attorney General’s request to consider the cases for more time in view of the protests and heightened tensions.
Also Read: What is the conflict between Israel and Palestine?