ALM Special

Founder of 'Save Armenian Quarter' is confident in victory in Jerusalem land case

Hagop Djernazian expressed confidence in an interview with Al-Monitor that the community has galvanized its efforts to prevail in the case.
A picture shows the Armenian car park in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 13, 2023. When bulldozers rolled into Jerusalem's Old City to start work on an Israeli settlement that would build a luxury hotel atop a fourth of the historic Armenian quarter, residents rapidly mobilised. Ever since the construction work began, Armenians have set up camp -- bringing tents, stoves, mattresses and a TV -- to a weeks-long sit-in to guard the land. Inside a tent, wooden planks patch up the holes left by constructio
A picture shows the Armenian car park in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 13, 2023. When bulldozers rolled into Jerusalem's Old City to start work on an Israeli settlement that would build a luxury hotel atop a fourth of the historic Armenian quarter, residents rapidly mobilised. Ever since the construction work began, Armenians have set up camp -- bringing tents, stoves, mattresses and a TV -- to a weeks-long sit-in to guard the land. Inside a tent, wooden planks patch up the holes left by construction equipment. - AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
DaoudKuttab.jpeg
Daoud Kuttab
@daoudkuttab

On Dec. 28, over 30 armed men stormed into the Cow’s Garden area in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem and attacked a group of Armenian clergy and members of the community.

The attack was seen by the patriarchate as a response to its lawsuit over the purported sale of the Cow’s Garden, a plot of land in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City, used for parking for several years now. It is the last large open space inside Jerusalem’s walled city. The Armenian Patriarchate filed a lawsuit to cancel the deal it made over two years ago to lease a fourth of the Armenian Quarter to Australian Jewish developer Danny Rothman (Rubinstein) and his Christian Arab partner George Warwar (Hadad) for 98 years. 

The community has been protesting the deal that involves taking down several homes and a seminary.

Hagop Djernazian, co-founder of the Save the Armenian Quarter Movement, a group that’s spearheading the protests against the deal and raised $75,000 to cover legal fees for the latest lawsuit, expressed confidence in an interview with Al-Monitor that the community has galvanized its efforts to prevail in the case. 

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