Secretary of State John Kerry, scheduled to arrive in the region on May 21, is sparing no effort to thaw the thick ice between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). As previously reported by my colleague Shlomi Eldar, Kerry has found a “magic bullet” which, he hopes, will enable him to announce resumption of the diplomatic process based on the 1967 borders and land swaps. Kerry is trying to persuade Netanyahu to propose a package of goodwill measures to his Palestinian counterpart, such as a partial construction freeze in the settlements and the release of several hundred Palestinians jailed in Israel for ''security-related offenses.'' But one decision by the Supreme Court, due to be rendered in Jerusalem on May 20 — just one day before the secretary’s scheduled arrival — could set the territories on fire and quash his efforts.
If Israel's highest judicial authority adopts the December 2012 ruling of the Jerusalem District Court, 79-year-old Ayoub Shamasneh, his wife Fahima and their six children will be evicted from their home and thrown into the street. The ramshackle abode, located in the heart of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, will be taken over by right-wing Jews who, as is their habit, will fly an Israeli flag over the building. Even more serious is that a Supreme Court rejection of the Shamasneh family’s appeal will likely result in a new wave of “eviction and occupation” of dozens of houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood, named by the settlers Shimon Hatzadik [Shimon the righteous], after a four-year lull. Such a wave could turn US peace efforts into a fleeting memory and sidetrack the conflict, turning it instead toward the 1948 narrative and the dead-end issue of the right of return.