A secretive real estate agreement by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has signed away some 25 percent of the Armenian Quarter of Israel's holy city. Now residents are fighting to hold on to their historic land.
JERUSALEM -- When Khachik Yeretsian, a former priest of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem fled his residence in disgrace on May 10, Israeli police had to bustle the defrocked priest to safety through an enraged crowd of his fellow Jerusalem Armenians. As protesters hurled insults at Yeretsian, one waved the flag of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Bedig Giragosian, a Jerusalem Armenian, shows his tattoo of the traditional Armenian symbol of eternity above two crossed swords.
Bedig Giragosian was among the crowd that night and says the flag of Nagorno-Karabakh symbolized the parallel crises unfolding in the Caucasus and in Jerusalem.
"The same thing that's happening in Artsakh is happening here," Giragosian said, using the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh and referring to fears that blockaded Karabakh Armenians could soon be forced off land their people have lived on for centuries. "If this deal goes through it will be the beginning of the end of our community in Jerusalem. The story of 1,600 years will finish."
A sign in English and Hebrew, erected by XANA Capital at the entrance to Jerusalem's Cow's Garden car park. The wooden cross was placed by unidentified workmen on June 13, then removed by Israeli police the following day.
The deal Giragosian refers to is a secretive real estate contract signed by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem that recently came to light. The explosive agreement hands a quarter of the Armenian sector to an Australian-Israeli investor for 99 years.
The patriarchate has blamed former priest Yeretsian alone for the deal, while Yeretsian, who now lives in California, says he is being punished "for an act that the patriarch signed and now I am being accused," adding that "one day the truth will be revealed."
A spokeswoman for the patriarchate told RFE/RL by e-mail, "It is not in our interest to answer you, or said more plainly: It is none of your business."
A Jerusalem Armenian woman lights candles inside the Cathedral of St. James during a service on June 14.
No one outside those directly involved has seen the secret land deal, but when signage for XANA Capital was erected at the entrances to a car park known as the Cow's Garden, it confirmed the parking lot -- named for its historic use as a grazing area for livestock -- was slated to be leased out. A low-rise luxury hotel is reportedly planned for the site.
But the contract apparently goes further. Setrag Balian is a Jerusalem Armenian who has been working alongside lawyers to try to overturn the lease agreement. Balian says draft development plans he saw while meeting with the Jerusalem municipality "include five residential homes" belonging to ethnic Armenian families, raising the specter of forced evictions.
The entrance to the Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter at the start of the 20th century.
Armenians first established a presence in Jerusalem in the fourth century after the nation became the first to officially adopt Christianity. Ethnic Armenians have lived within the walls of the holy city ever since, making the Jerusalemite community the oldest living diaspora outside Armenia.
Jerusalem Armenians today number around 2,000, down from a peak of some 25,000 a century ago when the sacred city served as a refuge for those who fled the Ottoman-era massacres that are widely referred to as the Armenian genocide.
An Armenian woman prays while clasping the leaves of the olive tree where Jesus is said to have been tied as he awaited trial.
Treasures inside the Armenian Quarter, which is largely closed off to the public, include a gnarled olive tree where Jesus is said to have been bound as he awaited his trial. Armenian couples who are unable to become pregnant are instructed to eat one olive from the tree each day for seven days while praying for the miracle of a child.
Israeli soldiers walk down Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Road, in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter, on June 13.
Some in the Armenian community fear geopolitical interests may be behind the land deal.
"I cannot state it with proof, but there is obviously a political aspect to it," Setrag Balian says of the lease agreement, adding that as the highest point of Jerusalem's ferociously contested Old City, the Armenian Quarter "has been eyed by many passing empires and occupation forces."
A view over Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter
Ripples from the land controversy have already reached regional powers of the Middle East. In May, Palestinian and Jordanian leadership formally withdrew their recognition of Jerusalem's Armenian patriarch for signing away the territory. The Arab leaders accused the church head of making the deal, "without consensus and consultation with the relevant parties."
The unfolding crisis comes amid a recent spate of violent attacks by extremist Jews on Jerusalem's Armenian community.
Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter
Apo Sahagian, a Jerusalem-Armenian musician, says the looming fight over the Jerusalem land may serve as a bellwether for wider struggles to come for the Armenian people amid lingering shock over the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
"Right now in Armenia there's a bit of uncertainty, people are confused, their spine is broken. And maybe a glimpse of resilience and audacity by the Armenian Jerusalemites would give some morale boost to the Armenians in Armenia," he told RFE/RL while sitting in a courtyard of Jerusalem's Old City. "The Jews have a saying that 'the redemption comes from the east.' I wouldn't mind if the Armenian redemption comes from Jerusalem," he said.