Aside from the Orthodox, the Armenians are the oldest Christian community in Palestine. The nearly 1,000 Armenians live in the Armenian Quarter, which is located next to the Jewish Quarter, in the Old City of Jerusalem, where housing, school and other basic institutions are provided for the local community. The current religious leader of the Armenians and his real estate director are now embroiled in a row with the Palestinian leadership for leasing hitherto unused sensitive land next to the Jewish Quarter initially to the Israeli municipality for a parking lot.

The 10-year lease that required the Israelis to spend $2 million to clear rubble in order to prepare the parking lot is now said to have become a 99-year lease to Jewish Australian businessman Danny Rubenstein, to convert it into a luxurious hotel that the patriarchate has admitted to and said it “will bring in a stream of hundreds of thousands of dollars that will provide financial stability for the cash-strapped church.”

Palestinian officials who contacted the patriarchate twice, to no avail, have now appealed to Armenia. On Sept. 22, a letter was sent by Ramzi Khoury, head of the Palestinian Higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in Palestine, to Catholicos of All Armenians Patriarch Karekin II calling land transactions in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem a violation of international law, since the area inside the Old City is an “integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories” governed by relevant international resolutions.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has also been “urged to intervene,” according to a statement by the Higher Presidential Committee.