Arabs fight with police during demolition of Khan al-Ahmar Khan al-Akhmar
Arabs fight with police during demolition of Khan al-Ahmar Khan al-AkhmarWisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90

An American-French law professor arrested while protesting against the demolition of an illegal Bedouin encampment east of Jerusalem says an Israeli court has revoked a deportation order against him.

Frank Romano, who teaches law at the Paris Nanterre University, was released late Sunday on the orders of the Jerusalem magistrates court and spoke in a video posted on social media.

He said that police had earlier handed him to immigration officials for immediate deportation without a court hearing but he refused to sign a consent form.

"The judge called the immigration and said 'bring him back' and we had the hearing," he said.

In the courtroom, the judge ordered his release, he said.

Supporters said he was allowed to stay in Israel until September 25, the original date of his return flight.

He was ordered to lodge a surety of 1,000 shekels ($256, 240 euros) and provide a guarantor for a separate 5,000 shekel bond, they said.

Romano was detained on Friday while taking part in a demonstration at the illegal Bedouin encampment of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem.

The unauthorized outpost of roughly 170 people is slated for demolition, following repeated court decisions against the encampment.

First built in the 1990s, Khan al-Ahmar is built adjacent to the Israeli town of Kfar Adumim in the Adumim bloc, east of Jerusalem.

On September 5, Israel's supreme court upheld an order to raze it on grounds it was built without the proper permits.

The encampment is located in a strategic spot near Israeli towns and along a road leading to the Dead Sea.

Anti-demolition activists said Romano was arrested along with two Arab protesters when they tried to block bulldozers sent in by Israeli authorities to seal off an access road to the outpost.