In a precedent-setting decision, the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court ruled Friday that yeshiva students who studied in Gush Katif for at least three years prior to the Disengagement are eligible for compensation from the Disengagement Administration.

The court accepted a petition filed by Mordechai Grenvich from Petah Tikva, who studied in the Torat Chaim Yeshiva at Neveh Dekalim. Grenvich told the court that he had "transferred the center of his life" to the community of Neveh Dekalim and had reported his new address to the Ministry of Interior's Population Administration.

The SELA Disengagement Administration had refused to recognize Grenvich as a resident of Neveh Dekalim for the purpose of compensation and claimed that the center of his life was at Petah Tikva. He appealed this decision with the aid of Atty. Yuval Ganan of the Land of Israel Legal Forum.