Attorney Nati Rom, the founder of the Lev Ha'Olam organization, praised the decision of the Jerusalem District Court to apply the 'Market ouvert' clause to the town of Mitzpe Kramim in Smaria, granting the residents ownership rights over their community.

"Until now, all the appeals against Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria were [heard] in the Supreme Court in Israel," Rom said. "It was a very left[-wing] court and not a normal civilian court."

"Thank G-d, we had the first ruling by a civilian court here, which decided that in all the conflicts in Judea and Samaria we will be treated the same as in conflicts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: not with appeals of leftist organizations who are trying to demolish Israel, but with normal laws," he added.

"It's another step towards sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, instead of demolishing hundreds of homes of Jewish people who lived there for many, many, many years, to destroy people's lives for no gain, because nobody is living there any more. So now the court will decide that if someone builds on the land of somebody else, [the original landowner] will be compensated. He will receive money instead of demolishing homes."

The decision was the first made by the Jerusalem District Court following the passage of the bill that transfers powers over issues related to Judea and Samaria from the Supreme Court to the Administrative Court in Jerusalem.

The bill was proposed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and passed into law in July.

Petitioners can still appeal the decisions of the district court, but they can no longer bring their petitions straight to the Supreme Court.