OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli higher court postponed on Sunday the evacuation of Shamasneh family from its home in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood till the third of January, Wadi Hilwa information center reported.

The Israeli district court had issued a verdict earlier this month considering the house a custodian of absentee property and giving the family of Ayoub Shamasneh until December 12, 2012 to evacuate it for the benefit of Jewish settlers.

The family's lawyer, however, appealed to the higher court against this verdict and obtained a decision delaying the evacuation, pending the response of the settlers.
 
Ayoub Shamasneh told the center that he lives with his wife, his son, daughter-in-law and six grandchildren in this house.

The family has been living in this house since 1964 and used to pay the rent to the Jordanian authorities before paying the Israeli authorities which has renewed the lease and made the family a tenant under custody since 1968.