JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court was on Monday deliberating on a case that could see Palestinian families evicted from their homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in a case that helped trigger Israel’s 11-day war with Hamas and violence between Jews and Arabs inside Israel.
The court is hearing four families’ request to appeal a previous decision by the Israeli Court of Appeal that ruled in favor of Jewish settlers who claim the land in the sensitive neighborhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.
If the court rejects the request, it could mean eviction proceedings against the families would start shortly, according to Terrestrial Jerusalem, a group that tracks developments in the Jerusalem. It was not immediately clear if a decision would come Monday.
“If they decide to evict us 14 people in my family will be out on the street,” said Abed Alfatah Skafi, 70, whose family is one of the four threatened with eviction in the case being heard by the Supreme Court.
“It will be a disaster, all our memories, our children grew up there,” he said in an interview with NBC News outside the court Monday.
Skafi was not alone outside the courthouse Monday. Dozens of Israelis and Palestinians protested against the potential evictions. Over the weekend Israelis and Palestinians gathered in Sheikh Jarrah to demonstrate ahead of the hearing.
The families’ request, known as a leave of appeal, to the Supreme Court was due to be heard in May but was postponed amid earlier protests that merged with demonstrations over policing at a compound sacred to Muslims and Jews known as the Temple Mount or the Noble Sanctuary.
Having warned Israel to halt the evictions and withdraw from the holy site, Hamas then fired rockets at Jerusalem on May 10 setting off 11-days of fighting between Israel and the militant group that controls Gaza.
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Any decision the court makes could potentially affect other cases in the neighborhood that is a long-time flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The threatened evictions have been widely criticized by rights groups and President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly said it is “very concerned.”
“We are also deeply concerned about the potential eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah … many of whom have lived in their homes for generations,” Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department said in a statement issued amid violence in Jerusalem that helped spark the conflict in May. “We also urge the authorities to approach the residents of Sheikh Jarrah with compassion and respect.”
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to holy sites that are sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, in the 1967 Mideast war. It later annexed the area in a move not recognized internationally. Israel views the whole city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Saphora Smith reported from London. Lawahez Jabari reported from Jerusalem.
The Associated Press contributed.