ISRAEL’S Supreme Court offered Palestinian families in the district of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem so-called “protected status” today, preventing forced expulsion but failing to give them ownership of their homes.

Under the deal, the four Palestinian families who appeared in court would be required to pay rent to Israeli settler organisation Nahalat Shimon, stripping them of ownership of the homes they have lived in since they were driven off their land when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

The protected-status offer, which the families are believed to have rejected, means that they could not be forcibly removed from their homes for years — but would make them mere tenants of buildings they bought years ago.