Armenians of Jerusalem: Facing an Existential Threat

On November 4, 2023, Armenian residents of Jerusalem peacefully protested against illegal construction within their Quarter. The situation escalated when armed Jewish settlers arrived, prompting police intervention. The next day, Danny Rothman, also known as Danny Rubenstein, the Australian owner of Xana Gardens Ltd., the company linked to the controversial deal to build a luxury hotel over land leased from the Armenian patriarchate arrived and allegedly demanded the Armenians’ expulsion. Is the 1600-year Armenian presence in Jerusalem under threat? There are strong indications pointing in that direction, considering the latest events in this troubling saga that began with the murky and illegal sale by Patriarch Nourhan Manooguian and the defrocked priest Bared Yeretsian, the former property manager of the Patriarchate.

In March 2020, Archbishop Manougian and the defrocked priest Kachig Yeretsian, formerly known as Father Bared, entered into a 10-year contract with the Jerusalem Municipality. The agreement allowed the Cows’ Garden area, situated in the historic Armenian Quarter (1/6 of the Old City), to serve as a parking lot for Jews visiting the Western Wall in the Old City. This parking facility was officially opened in May 2021. 

By December 2020, both Armenians and Palestinian Arabs in Bethlehem had staged demonstrations in protest of the lease agreement, expressing concerns about Armenian land being used as a parking lot for Jewish residents of the Old City and potentially for visitors of the Western Wall. The Armenian Patriarchate, however, characterized the deal as a financial transaction rather than a sale of land. 

In July 2021, a new contract was signed between the Armenian Patriarchate and Danny Rubinstein. The contract leases the Cows’ Garden which is the entire southwestern section of the Armenian Quarter, for a period of 99 years. The vacant land, measuring 5,520 square meters, is valued between $27 billion and $39 billion. Rubinstein’s plan is to construct a hotel on the land and give a small percentage of the profit to the Church within five years’ of the hotel’s completion.

Once the Armenian community in Jerusalem and around the world learned about the sale (or long-term lease) that took place in secret in September 2021, a protest movement began to build up over time. In the fall of 2021, Armenian Archbishop Aris Shevernian announced that he had agreed to join a group of Armenian priests who publicly spoke out against the actions of the Armenian Patriarch and his real estate manager.

Supposedly, Patriarch Manougian and former Father Yeretsian conducted negotiations for the deal without the consent of the Synod and the Sts. James Brotherhood constitution. Later, no disciplinary action was taken against the Patriarch and Father Yeretsian for making the deal without their consent. For three years, the Synod did not hold any meetings or vote on this important deal. In so doing, the Patriarchate supposedly violated the legal and jurisdictional procedures and laws that govern it.

Finally, in a remarkable development, the Armenian Patriarch dismissed his former deputy and the Church’s former real estate director in May 2023. When the local Armenian parish in Jerusalem learned of the decision, they took measures to prevent Baret Yeretsian from leaving the Armenian convent with any documents or valuable items. Videos filmed by Armenians at the convent show Israeli police escorting the former priest to safety, protecting him from an angry Armenian youth. 

Eyewitnesses reported that the former priest was stopped when youth discovered that he was attempting to use the back door of the convent’s school to escape with boxes containing his personal belongings. The youth searched each item before allowing him to take it, ensuring that no documents were taken. 

The decision to dismiss the priest was made due to growing anger over the alleged role played by former Father Baret in selling or leasing Armenian church property to Jewish developers.

As Jerusalem-born Armenian scholar Bedross Der Matossian pointed out, “the situation gripping the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem is more than distressing—it is an urgent call to safeguard cultural heritage and defend the rights of the Armenian community within the Holy Land. The ongoing destruction using bulldozers within the Cows’ Garden in the Armenian Quarter not only wounds the local fabric, but also strikes at the heart of global heritage.”

Armenians Betrayed and Disarmed

In an interview five years ago (“The Gate Keeper,” AGBU Magazine, Dec. 2018), Patriarch Manougian stated, “The Armenian presence in Jerusalem is one of the most miraculous sagas of the Armenian people. Jerusalem is the oldest Armenian community outside Armenia. It has remained almost intact for almost 2,000 years…” Yet he has undermined the significance of this revered structure by gradually ceding Armenian land to the Israeli authorities, who illegally occupy the Old City of Jerusalem.

In the same interview he also stated, “Tourism and pilgrimages are two important channels that raise awareness about the Armenian presence in Jerusalem…visibility is one of our major goals.” How can he raise Armenian visibility when he is giving away Armenian lands? How can he expect Armenians pilgrims when he is giving away our national heritage without a fight?

Patriarch Manougian continued, “We invest heavily to strengthen the infrastructure of the community. We finance most of the institutions of the Armenian Quarter. There is no doubt that the gradual decline in the number of Armenian residents affects the functional life of the community [there are about 1,000 Armenians left in the city].” Despite claiming to invest in strengthening the community, Armenians who live rent-free in the Church-owned Armenian Quarter refrain from publicly criticizing the Patriarch’s real estate decisions due to fear of being evicted from the Quarter in a city with high rents and limited accommodation.

But the Armenians of Jerusalem don’t understand why the Patriarchate, with its considerable material resources derived from its substantial real estate holdings in the Holy Land, is allowed to do so. To make matters worse, they find themselves subjected to intimidation and blackmail by the Patriarch, who holds tremendous leverage over them due to the fact that many of them are tenants of the Patriarchate. There have been documented cases of Armenian families being forcibly evicted from their homes, a practice that directly contradicts the Patriarch’s supposed commitment to preserving the Armenian presence in the Old City, particularly when it is already dwindling.

The Reaction of the Palestinian Authority and Jordan

Palestinians and Jordanians are also concerned about the fate of other Armenian real estate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan serves as the protector of the Holy Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem. Each Armenian Patriarch holds a diplomatic passport issued by the Jordanian authorities. In response to the unlawful leasing of the Patriarchate’s Cows’ Garden, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority expressed their concern.

The mishandling of the real estate fiasco resulted in the suspension of Manougian from his role as the Patriarch of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Jordan on May 11. In a joint statement, they emphasized that the Patriarch had ignored requests from Armenian institutions to discontinue any actions that could jeopardize the historical and legal status quo of these sites.

The Palestinian Authority and Jordan have claimed that Manougian, who is responsible for Christian properties in the occupied Palestinian territories and Jordan, violated international covenants that protect the status quo of occupied East Jerusalem and preserve the Armenian Quarter, as well as the religious character of the city. Jordanians and Palestinians are concerned about the long-term effects of this transaction, believing that it will disrupt the demographic balance of the Holy City and contribute to the process of Judaization in old Jerusalem. 

The Armenian government is currently engaging with Palestinian and Jordanian representatives. But the strained relations with Israel, Azerbaijan’s primary arms supplier, are limiting Yerevan’s room for manoeuvre.

Dwindling Number of Armenians in Jerusalem Is Terrifying

While Christians used to make up 20% of Jerusalem’s population, today they account for less than 2%. The Armenian community of Jerusalem, which consisted of roughly 2000 people 20 years ago, has decreased to less than a half of that. This community is isolated from Armenians in neighbouring Arab countries due to Israel’s policy of not allowing non-Jews to immigrate to Occupied Palestine. This policy prevents an Armenian living in Jerusalem from marrying an Armenian from an Arab country and having their spouse immigrate to Jerusalem. 

Consequently, the pool of potential marriage partners for Armenians becomes even smaller, leading to an increase in marriages between Christian Arabs. Additionally, Armenians lack official status and are unable to become citizens; instead, they are designated as permanent residents, leaving them at the mercy of government bureaucrats. The Patriarch, rather than supporting a community under severe stress, distanced himself from it and severed relations with at least one of the three social clubs.

The Israeli government, especially after declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, has been actively reshaping the physical and demographic landscape of the Holy City to emphasize its Jewish character, often at the expense of its long-established Muslim and Christian population. The progressive radicalization of the Israeli political spectrum reflects the overall objective of transforming the country into a predominantly Jewish state, regardless of how long minority groups have resided there. Armenians, for example, are already treated as second-class citizens, and their prospects in a non-secular Jewish state appear bleak. 

The Israeli authorities deliberately target and intimidate non-Jews in Jerusalem, as well as holy Islamic and Christian sites. Extremist Israeli groups receive direct support from the government, which protects them and covers up their crimes against these holy sites in Jerusalem. According to Dimitri Diliani, the head of the Christian National Assembly in the Holy Land, “the Israeli occupation has one goal: to create an environment that rejects the presence of Jerusalemites in their own city, be they Christians or Muslims. They are all subjected to persecution and deliberate Israeli racism, to displace them from the city and turn it into a city with Jewish majority. This is the main reason behind the decrease in the number of Christians in Jerusalem and the migration from the city.” 

Clergy and churches frequently experience physical and verbal attacks, while holy places are regularly vandalized and desecrated by these extremist groups. Additionally, properties, especially in the Christian quarter of the Old City and its surroundings, are systematically targeted through deliberate and planned commercial deals.

In response to this policy, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem launched an international campaign in 2021. They denounced the ongoing and continuous attacks by extremist Israeli groups against churches and Christian residents in the city of Jerusalem, which are carried out under the protection of the Israeli police and their security services. The campaign aims to resist the Israeli plan to expel Christians in Jerusalem and several other areas in the Holy Land.

A Dangerous Escalation 

The Armenians of the Jerusalem neighbourhood, despite being small in number and unarmed, have been engaged in a weeks-long struggle against armed Jewish settlers who are fanatically attempting to occupy Cows’ Park.Their goal is to seize the land through intimidation, forcing the Armenians to leave. Exploiting the world’s attention on Israel’s war in Gaza, the settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are deliberately escalating tensions, backed by their government composed of far-right leaders from the West Bank settlements. In response to this mounting tension, the Armenian Patriarchate has reversed its position and is now standing with its endangered compatriots, with the support of other Christian churches in Jerusalem.

The demolition of this property, which has a rich history spanning centuries and has witnessed the use of force against those defending it, has caused shockwaves. The Armenian Quarter is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Old City, making it imperative to immediately and thoroughly investigate the motives behind this grave act, especially considering the ongoing conflict in the region. It is essential that the rights of the Armenian community are not just acknowledged but fiercely defended. “Preserving such heritage is not just a matter of local importance; it holds global significance, contributing to the collective history of humanity. The situation demands a thorough investigation into the motivations behind this illegal destruction and a respectful acknowledgment of the Armenians’ rightful connection to this invaluable piece of history,” urged Bedross Der Matossian.

Is it too late to prevent irreparable damage? Are the future prospects of the Armenians in the Holy City, whose rich heritage is a cherished part of the diaspora, doomed? Despite their presence in Jerusalem dating back to the 4th century AD, during the early days of Christian pilgrimages, the current situation poses a crucial test. It tests the ability of the Armenian leaders in Jerusalem, the Apostolic Church, and the Armenian state to stand together in the face of this threat. It is also a spiritual test, questioning whether greedy and corrupt people can rediscover their original calling of loving their neighbor and applying the principles of the Gospel to their lives. Finally, it’s a test of solidarity among the other components of the Holy Land –– Christians, Muslims and Jews who love peace and coexistence in the face of the murderous extremism of the Islamo-fascist Hamas and the sectarian tendencies of Israel’s leaders.

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