JERUSALEM -- A rabbi born in Erie, Crawford County, was convicted today in a magistrate's court for trying to prevent Israeli bulldozers from demolishing illegally built Palestinian homes in Jerusalem.

Prosecutors, however, asked the court to set aside the verdict and allow Rabbi Arik Ascherman to perform community service -- leaving Ascherman with no criminal record. Ascherman heads the group Rabbis for Human Rights, which tries to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes.

The case resonates with the wider issue of who controls Jerusalem. Israel claims the entire city as its capital. Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, as capital of a future state.

Ascherman, who was tried along with two other Jewish activists, claims Israel has tried to prevent Palestinian growth in the city by creating bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining building permits. He says he blocked the bulldozers because he had a moral responsibility to stop them.

Ascherman was convicted today of interfering with police performance of duties on two different occasions in 2003, and the intention to commit acts to prevent police from performing their duties.

He said he was disappointed the court "did not decide to relate the decision to the policy of home demolition in any way."

"For us, this trial really was about the people who have no voice here, the victims of home demolition. And that's why we're going immediately from the courthouse...to begin the rebuilding of one of these homes."

Defense attorney Leah Zemmel told the court during the trial, "It was discriminatory to bring this group to trial for nonviolent protest while not arresting settlers" for protesting removal of settlements.

In an unusual gesture, the prosecution called on the court to set aside the verdict because Ascherman and his group are "not criminals, and in fact are upstanding citizens."

In a reference to the planned evacuation this summer of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank against stiff opposition from settlers, the prosecutor warned that "especially in these days" such protests could pose a danger.

"One can imagine what the situation would be here if we were to allow this kind of resistance," the prosecutor told the court.

No decision about setting aside the verdict was announced.

The foundation of one of these houses razed in April 2003 still stands, with crushed shoes and toys strewn about. On Tuesday, Ahmad Mussa Daari, the previous homeowner, watched as his two sons and Ascherman mixed cement for the cornerstone of what they hope will be a new house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya.

Destruction of the homes left two large extended families homeless.

The families did not obtain permits to enlarge their houses, which human rights activists say is nearly impossible for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Daari said he built the house a year before it was demolished to make room for his two sons and their new families. The seven-member Daari family now lives in a two-bedroom house.

Holding the hand of his 4-year-old son, Daari said he was "sad to hear the decision today, because one man helping another man should not be illegal."