The Supreme Court of Israel ruled Tuesday that Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem may continue to reside in their homes until Israel’s Ministry of Justice resolves the property dispute over their land. Such a resolution may take years. Under the ruling, the Palestinian families must pay a modest rent of about 745 dollars per year.

Lawyer Sami Irsheid said he was “happy and proud” after the ruling. Resident Abdel Fattah Skafi told ArabNews he is “happy with this achievement, which has not happened in 50 years.” He explained:

We feel comfortable now; there is no danger of evacuating us from our homes at any moment, and we will prove to the Israeli court that this land and the homes are ours. Then our problem and our long suffering will end.

The legal dispute began in 1972 when Jewish settlers sued Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Israeli Custodian General gave ownership of the land to Jewish Committees who, in turn, “sold their ownership rights to Nahalat Shimon International, a private settler organization, which does not have ties to the original alleged Jewish owners. The settler organization has vigorously worked to bring eviction lawsuits” against Palestinian residents. Under Israeli law, Jews may reclaim the land they owned before 1948. Palestinians do not have equal rights.

During a United Nations Security Council meeting on February 23, 2022, delegates “urged” Israel to stop evictions in the neighborhood. According to a UN press release, Norway’s envoy “condemned the eviction of the Salihiya family from their home [in Sheikh Jarrah] in January, warning that pursuing such practices can escalate the conflict.”