JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Hamas lawmaker from eastern Jerusalem was ordered expelled to the West Bank.
The Jerusalem Magistrates’ court on Wednesday ordered that Mohammed Abu Tir be transferred to the Palestinian Authority after ruling that he could not continue to live in Jerusalem.
Abu Tir has been held in an Israeli jail for the past five months after being arrested for entering Israeli illegally. His residency rights in Israel were annulled in 2006 following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since his abduction.
Abu Tir was given a four-month suspended jail sentence, which will be activated if he tries to re-enter Israel. The ruling is part of a plea bargain in which Abu Tir admitted to entering Israel illegally but did not withdraw a petition filed with Israel’s Supreme Court protesting the decision to annul his residency rights.
Three other Hamas politicians whose residency rights also were rescinded in 2006 have lived in a tent at the International Committee of the Red Cross compound in Jerusalem since July. They face arrest if they leave the compound.
