The High Court began deliberations Monday on a petition by four senior Hamas officials against Israel's decision to revoke their status as residents of Jerusalem.

Without the residency permits, the four - Khaled Abu Arafa, the Palestinian minister of Jerusalem affairs, and lawmakers Mohammed Abu Tir, Mohammed Totach and Ahmed Abu Atoun, now in Jordan - would likely be forced out of their homes and into the West Bank.

Israel meted out the unprecedented punishment after the officials refused to renounce their membership in Hamas.

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Abu Arafa, Abu Tir, and Totach were arrested in June and remain in custody under a wider Israeli roundup of Hamas political officials after Hamas-linked militants captured an IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who remains in the hands of his abductors.

Abu Tir, his beard dyed a trademark orange, is widely known in Israel for having acted as a Hamas spokesman during Palestinian elections early this year.

The court did not rule on their petition on Monday. Lawyers said they expected the proceedings to take months.

"We think that the Interior Ministry does not have the authority to revoke residency status in east Jerusalem," said Osama al-Saadi, a lawyer for the officials. Saadi said he expected the court to reject the government's argument that the officials should be stripped of their residency on the ground they were disloyal to the state.

The revocation of the officials' residency drew attention to the complex legal standing of more than 200,000 Palestinians who live in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed.

Most Jerusalem Palestinians hold permanent residency cards, having rejected Israel's offer of citizenship. Accepting citizenship would be tantamount to accepting the annexation, and Palestinians want to establish the capital of their future state in east Jerusalem.

The Israeli identity cards have become increasingly valuable to Palestinians because of growing Israeli travel restrictions and the construction of a separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The four Hamas officials were among more than 60 Israel arrested after Shalit's capture on June 25.

They have been charged with membership and activity in an outlawed organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. But the arrests were widely viewed as an Israeli effort to collect bargaining chips to force militants to release Shalit.