RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Jerusalem - 02 March 2022. Israeli right-wing settlers wave Israel national flags in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.


STORYLINE:

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday froze the eviction of four Palestinian families from the flashpoint east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Jewish settler groups have sought to seize control.

In a ruling by a three-judge panel, the families would be recognised 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".

The four families in annexed east Jerusalem were at the heart of clashes that helped spark the 11-day war last May between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem -- which Palestinians says that their future capital -- following the 1967 Six-Day War, a move not recognised by most of the international community.

Sheikh Jarrah has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israeli control of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian families had been seeking a right to appeal a lower court decision that Jewish settlers owned the land.

More than 200,000 settlers now live in east Jerusalem, alongside about 300,000 Palestinians. The Jewish settlements there are considered illegal under international law.

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