Aletho News

Erasing 1,700-year history: Israel’s property grab threatens Armenian Christians in al-Quds

By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | February 26, 2025

Armenian Christians, the smallest recognized community in occupied al-Quds, are reeling under pressure from Israeli settler-colonial policies aimed at imposing exorbitant taxes, seizing their properties, displacing them, and ultimately Judaizing the historic city center.

On February 18, the Armenian Patriarchate in the holy city issued an urgent communiqué, warning that the local Zionist municipality is attempting to confiscate and auction off properties it owns there.

The Patriarchate is situated in the Armenian Quarter, one of the four sections of the walled Old City, alongside the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Quarters.

This small Armenian community, located in the southwestern corner of the 12.6-hectare Old City, numbers only a few hundred people. As the oldest Armenian diaspora, it has maintained a presence in the neighborhood for nearly 1,700 years, as per historical accounts.

For years, the Armenian community has resisted the expansion of Jewish-only settlements in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds. However, their enduring heritage is now at risk of being erased.

The Israeli regime claims that the Patriarchate has unpaid taxes dating back to 1994—an accusation the Patriarchate denounces as unjust, crippling, and only recently imposed.

It warns that this move could set a dangerous precedent for all Christian communities in the city.

In an effort to halt the foreclosure process on its centuries-old properties, the Patriarchate has filed a petition. The hearing was initially scheduled for February 24 but has since been postponed.

Unjustified tax apartheid 

After issuing a desperate appeal and urging supporters to share it on social media platforms, the Armenian Patriarchate came under vicious attack from Zionist hate-mongers, who falsely accused it of evading taxes for 31 years.

In reality, as a Press TV website investigation revealed, Christian church-owned properties were exempt from property taxes for two centuries until a 2018 decision by the Zionist municipality, approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime, overturned this longstanding policy.

Armenian Quarter in al-Quds, the place of 1,700 years of Armenian history

The Zionist settler-colonial authorities then imposed the so-called Arnona, an annual municipal property tax levied on local residents in the occupied al-Quds.

Without any legal basis, the municipality arbitrarily ruled that the historic 200-year exemption applied only to places of worship, while all other church-owned properties would be subject to retroactive taxation from 1994.

This date was chosen because it marked the signing of an agreement between the Zionist regime and Jordan, recognizing Amman’s custodianship over Muslim holy sites in the Old City—while Tel Aviv remained the occupying power.

Overnight, the municipality’s decision saddled the small Armenian community with a 24-year debt. Under Zionist regime laws, properties weighed down with such heavy debts can be seized and auctioned to cover the outstanding amount.

This aggressive campaign was spearheaded by Nir Barkat, a Likud politician, and then-mayor, who sought to tax so-called “non-religious” church properties for a total of $200 million, even ordering the freezing of their bank accounts.

The Armenian Patriarchate was not alone in its resistance. Other Christian leaders also vehemently opposed the move, going so far as to close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest.

The dispute further strained relations between the Israeli regime and the Holy See, which cited local tax disputes as a key reason for delaying ongoing bilateral negotiations on property and economic matters.

Armenian Christians as the primary target

As the smallest and most vulnerable Christian community in the city, Armenians have been the primary target of the Zionist regime’s apartheid policies. The Armenian Patriarchate emphasizes that no other Christian community has faced such unprecedented and irreversible measures.

Following the municipality’s issuance of a seizure order, the Armenian Patriarch sent a letter to Netanyahu, urging him to intervene and halt the municipality’s actions regarding the tax dispute.

The Patriarchate has challenged the legality of these measures, asserting that no judicial ruling has ever subjected it to such obligations.

The petition asserted that the municipality disregarded the statute of limitations for the period between 1994 and 2018, demanding an exorbitant sum without clearly defining the presumed tax base.

The municipality’s actions have been described as aggressive and particularly unjustified; given that it itself owes the Patriarchate millions of shekels in overdue rental fees.

Armenian Quarter numbers only a few hundred people due to Zionist apartheid policies

Despite this, the Patriarchate has refrained from legal action to recover the debt, instead opting for prolonged negotiations to reach an amicable resolution.

In its statement, the Patriarchate also noted that it has repeatedly attempted to present these arguments to municipal authorities, who have refused to reassess the validity of the debt, despite clear violations of legal deadlines and procedures.

The official responsible for rejecting the review of the debt—because the deadline for objections had passed—is the same individual who originally determined the astronomical debt.

“In other words, the municipal employee is acting as the claimant, judge, and executor of the administrative order, serving the interests of his employer—the municipality,” the statement declared.

The petition is therefore directed against both the municipality and the official in question. A hearing was scheduled for February 24; however, just four days before the date, it was announced that the session had been postponed indefinitely due to weather conditions.

If the petition is rejected, the municipality will be authorized to immediately resume the seizure of properties in order to erase the long history of Armenian Christians in the occupied holy city.

Christian communities’ condemnation

Church representatives in the occupied al-Quds, along with the World Council of Churches (WCC), have expressed their solidarity with the Armenian Patriarchate through an official statement.

On February 21, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem issued a declaration condemning the municipality’s “unjust foreclosure order” and calling for “immediate intervention.”

Christian leaders in occupied al-Quds voiced their “great concern” and “steadfast solidarity” with the Orthodox Armenian Patriarchate in its fight for justice against what they described as an “unverified and exorbitant” tax debt, denouncing it as “dubious and morally unacceptable.”

“It is inconceivable that Christian institutions, which for centuries have safeguarded the faith, served communities, and preserved the sacred heritage of the Holy Land, should now face the threat of property seizure under Israeli administrative measures that disregard due process,” they stated.

Particularly alarming, they noted, is the municipality’s attempt to enforce the debt determination without judicial review, in open defiance of the committee formed to handle such negotiations.

This “reckless move,” they warned, threatens the Orthodox Armenian Patriarchate, sets a dangerous precedent for other Christian institutions, and undermines religious freedom.

They further explained that seizing these assets would strip both the Armenian Patriarchate and its community of essential economic resources, jeopardizing their ability to sustain their presence and fulfill their pastoral mission.

The statement concluded with a powerful declaration: “The targeting of one Church is an assault on all.” The leaders urged Israeli occupation to immediately intervene, halt all foreclosure proceedings, and ensure the resumption of negotiations.

The WCC, a global Christian inter-church organization representing 352 member churches, echoed this condemnation in a separate statement, denouncing the Israeli actions as “a blatant attack on religious freedom” and “an alarming violation of the historic status quo” governing the Holy Sites of al-Quds.

Other hostile moves against Christians 

The imposition of a fictitious tax debt is just one example of Zionist attempts to appropriate Armenian property and intimidate the Armenian community.

Another significant case is the ongoing multi-year effort to seize the Cows’ Garden, an undeveloped one-hectare section of the Armenian Quarter.

The controversy erupted in 2020 when the Armenian Patriarchate signed a ten-year contract with the local municipality to convert the vacant land into a parking lot for Jewish settlers in the Old City and pilgrims visiting the Western Wall.

Both Armenians and Palestinians staged protests against the lease agreement, voicing concerns over Armenian land ownership. The Patriarchate maintained that the deal was strictly a financial arrangement, not a sale deed.

The following year, the parking lot was opened, and the Patriarchate signed a new contract with Israeli investors from the Dubai-registered Xana Gardens company to lease the land for 99 years and construct a luxury hotel.

This sparked even fiercer protests and led to the uncovering of an internal corruption scandal. By the end of 2023, the Patriarchate canceled the contract, stating that the investors had misled them regarding financial commitments and final development plans.

In response, the Israeli company escalated its efforts to forcibly acquire the land, resorting to lawsuits, threats, and physical intimidation of Armenians.

Since then, the Armenian Christian community has erected temporary guard stations and has been physically safeguarding the disputed land around the clock for months.

Jewish mobs have been recorded attacking Armenians on multiple occasions. Under the protection of Israeli occupation police, the company sent bulldozers to the site, and at one point, the owner arrived in person, openly calling for the expulsion of Armenians.

Zionist extremists frequently vandalize the Armenian Quarter with hate graffiti, including slogans such as “Death to Arabs and their Armenian Friends.” They have also targeted Armenian families with harassment and violence.

Meanwhile, investigations have revealed the company’s ties to the far-right settler movement, which aids Israeli settlers in seizing Muslim and Christian properties across occupied al-Quds.

Armenians and Palestinians fear the long-term consequences of these policies, warning that they will disrupt the demographic balance and further the ongoing Judaization of the Old City.

February 26, 2025 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | Human rights, Israel, Jerusalem, Palestine, Zionism | 1 Comment