JERUSALEM, 12 August 2021, (TON): A lawyer said Wednesday a Jerusalem court ruling that dozens of home demolitions in a flashpoint Palestinian neighborhood should be frozen for six months was “progress,” but not “victory.”

Israel had ordered the demolition of around 100 homes in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood on the edge of the Old City in east Jerusalem, claiming they were built illegally on public land.

Monday’s court order froze most of those demolition orders until February 2022, while also allowing 16 homes to be razed immediately.

Judge Sigal Albo of the Jerusalem Court for Local Affairs wrote in the decision “I have reached the conclusion that there is space to grant a specific extension.”

Kawar said his clients were applying for retroactive permission for their homes, which he said they built on their own private property without permission.

“It is not possible to get permits there,” Kawar said. Palestinians say the city rejects nearly all of their building permit applications.

Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six-Day War in 1967, and later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.