Controversial land sale puts Jerusalem Armenians on edge

Wearing peaked achromatic headdresses and agelong robes, a procession of Armenian priests is led on the chromatic streets of Jerusalem's Old City by 2 suited men successful felt tarboosh hats with ceremonial walking sticks.

Quietly, isolated from the tapping of the sticks, they record into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers.

Nowadays, Jerusalem is astatine the halfway of the struggle betwixt Israelis and Palestinians. But Armenians person been present since the 4th Century, erstwhile their state was the archetypal to follow Christianity arsenic a nationalist religion.

They person a stock successful the Old City's holiest Christian sites and their ain 4th tucked distant successful its south-western corner, location to immoderate 2,000 Armenians.

But present the assemblage present feels nether menace due to the fact that of a murky existent property woody by its ain Church leaders. Amid aggravated protests, the Armenian patriarch has hidden himself distant and a disgraced priest, who denies immoderate wrongdoing, has fled to California.

"It's similar a puzzle. I mean, we are trying to cognize what happened, erstwhile it happened, and how," explains assemblage activistic Hagop Djernazian.

What has emerged is that immoderate 25% of the Armenian Quarter has been sold connected a 99-year lease to a mysterious Jewish Australian businessman for a luxury development.

The onshore includes a ample car parking country - 1 of the fewer areas of unfastened onshore wrong the Old City walls - which his institution has already taken over. Many Armenians had hoped the tract could beryllium utilized to physique affordable lodging for young couples from their tiny, shrinking community.

According to plans seen unofficially by Hagop and others, an Ottoman-era gathering lodging 5 Armenian households, a restaurant, shops and the seminary are each portion of the sell-off. Many fearfulness this could impact the viability of surviving successful the 4th successful the long-term.

But the contention extends acold much widely.

"It is humanities onshore that we person had for 700 years. Losing it with 1 signature volition impact our taste regular life, but it volition besides alteration the representation of Jerusalem," Hagop says. "It volition alteration the presumption quo, the full mosaic of Jerusalem."

As the Orthodox Easter celebrations took spot successful April, panic was spreading among Armenians. The Armenian Patriarch, Nourhan Manougian, admitted that helium had signed distant the onshore but said helium had been deceived by a section clergyman who worked for him.

That clergyman was defrocked and aboriginal determination were heated scenes arsenic helium was banished from the Armenian Quarter, escorted distant nether Israeli constabulary extortion arsenic residents yelled retired "traitor".

Recently, galore Armenians person been joining play protests, linking arms and singing nationalistic songs beneath the model of the patriarch who present stays cloistered successful his rooms astatine the convent. They request that helium revokes the onshore deal.

"The look of the city, its quality is changing precise much," says Arda, who lives successful the Old City and complains that spiritual nationalists already consciousness emboldened by the drift of Israeli politics.

"Priests walking successful the streets find settlers spitting astatine them, radical accidental they don't privation to spot Christmas trees successful the city, and restaurants are being attacked for nary reason. It's each going successful a definite direction."

Israel captured East Jerusalem - including the Old City - from Jordan successful the 1967 Middle East War and went connected to inhabit and annex it successful a determination that is not recognised internationally. In the decades since, it has been astatine the bosom of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, claimed by some sides arsenic their capital. Plots of onshore present are fiercely fought over.

There is simply a reminder of that adjacent to the Armenian Quarter, astatine Jaffa Gate - the iconic entranceway to the Christian Quarter.

Here, 2 landmark hotels, tally by Palestinians, were secretly sold to overseas firms acting arsenic fronts for a extremist Jewish settler group. The Greek Orthodox Church mislaid a two-decade-long conflict to cancel the woody successful the Israeli courts and past twelvemonth settlers moved into portion of 1 of the hotels.

Armenian elders accidental that successful the past, determination person been predominant approaches by settlers wanting to bargain onshore successful their 4th and summation the Jewish beingness successful East Jerusalem. The Armenian Quarter is located adjacent to the Jewish one, which makes it particularly desirable.

However, a spokesperson for the settler radical which bought the Jaffa Gate properties told the BBC helium had nary cognition of the Armenian onshore sale.

Meanwhile, successful interviews successful the US, the cast-out priest, Baret Yeretsian, has dismissed the thought that the purchaser of the onshore lease - named arsenic Danny Rothman but besides Daniel Rubinstein successful immoderate documents - is driven by ideology.

Nevertheless, Palestinian Christian leaders accidental the merchantability has governmental implications.

"It undermines immoderate aboriginal governmental solution to Jerusalem," says Dimitri Diliani, president of the National Christian Coalition of the Holy Land. "According to planetary law, it's connected occupied onshore that is taxable to negotiations and this benignant of reinforces the amerciable settler beingness successful Palestinian East Jerusalem."

He believes that "the diversity" of Jerusalem volition besides beryllium severely affected.

Highlighting the value of the Armenian Church's actions, some the Palestinian President and Jordan's King Abdullah II - custodian of Jerusalem's Christian beatified sites - person suspended their designation of the patriarch. This affects his quality to be ceremonies and motion disconnected connected authoritative religion business.

Israel's overseas ministry has said it is alert of the Armenian patriarch's woody but owed to the governmental sensitivity it refrains from commenting connected it.

Meanwhile, successful the walled courtyards of St James Convent - which has been location to galore Armenian families since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and has its ain clubs, school, room and adjacent a shot transportation - the speech nowadays is astir small else.

Relations person been strained betwixt the residents and clergy members, who enactment present arsenic the spiritual and civilian authority. On Friday, dozens of Armenian Jerusalemites gathered to perceive from a radical of planetary Armenian lawyers who person been visiting and person agreed to gully up recommendations connected however to grip the case.

Nearby, successful his ceramics shop, Garo Sandrouni paints glaze onto an ornately decorated vessel wondering what the aboriginal volition bring.

He is from 1 of the families that brought the colourful contented of Armenian pottery to Jerusalem a period ago, erstwhile they fled from what is wide seen arsenic a genocide by the Turks.

He says that Armenians historically donated wealth to bargain onshore successful this beatified metropolis - their spiritual homeland - and that the Church has nary close to merchantability it.

"This is what makes america angry. These lands beryllium to the Armenian nation. They don't beryllium to the Armenian patriarchate of Jerusalem," helium tells me.

"The Armenian patriarchate of Jerusalem has to instrumentality attraction of these lands to support them to sphere them, to support them."