Itongadol.- Seven-year dispute ends following Supreme Court ruling Jewish settlers were the lawful owners of the building.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya\’alon on Sunday approved the return of Jewish settlers to a contested house known as "The House of Peace" in the West Bank city of Hebron, a statement from his office said.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that settlers were the lawful owners of the building in the heart of the city, ending a legal dispute lasting nearly seven years.
"Following the court decision… Defense Minister Moshe Ya\’alon today approved habitation of the house," the statement said, adding that the area military instructor had been told to allow "a limited number of families to the house."
The Palestinian Rajabi family has for years said its four-storey building had been taken over fraudulently by Israeli settlers.
A lower court in 2012 accepted their claim, ruling that the settlers’ assertion that they had legally purchased the property "does not hold water."
The Supreme Court overturned that judgment on appeal.
The building is near a contested holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in a tightly controlled Israeli enclave where many streets are off-limits to Palestinian cars.