From the AFP: "Jerusalem's Armenians vow to keep up fight against 'settler' project." The gist of the story is that there have been Armenians in Jerusalem for at least 1500 years, and one of the historic sections of Jerusalem has been the Armenian Quarter. Nevertheless, probably because they are not Jewish, the Armenians (who are Christian) don't have Israeli citizenship and have been on the losing end of efforts to slowly nibble away at the size of the Armenian Quarter.
The issue that is the subject matter of the article arose when Armenians learned that "the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Father Baret Yeretzian, in charge of real estate affairs, struck a deal in 2021 with a Tel Aviv-based company," Xana Gardens Ltd., headed up by an Australian-Israeli investor named Danny Rothman. The deal involved the sale of 11,500 square meters (2.8 acres) of land--about 25% of the remaining Armenian Quarter. Rothman plans on building a luxury hotel on the site. After the Armenians learned of the deal, the Armenian church removed and defrocked Yeretzian and revoked its consent for the agreement.
The latest escalation came after Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem, on October 27 sent a letter to Xana Gardens formally notifying the firm of the "cancellation of the agreement".
Then, "bulldozers, armed settlers accompanied by dogs, and residents of the Jewish quarter" arrived to the area, said the activist Balian, 27.
The takeover attempt "took advantage of the chaos of October 7," he said, referring to the bloody attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel that triggered all-out war.
"They managed to demolish part of the wall surrounding the parking lot [which was part of the land deal]."
No comments:
Post a Comment