‘We gained’t depart’: Armenians in Jerusalem push again towards armed settlers | Israel-Palestine battle

Outdated Metropolis, occupied East Jerusalem – After studying that settlers had returned to bulldoze in an space of the parking zone close to his home within the Armenian Quarter, 80-year-old Garo Nalbandian, an expert photographer, joined a group sit-in within the space often known as the Cows’ Backyard with, in fact, his trusty digicam.

“We gained’t depart,” a decided Nalbandian stated gruffly in between snapping pictures of Armenians on one aspect of the makeshift barricade and Israeli police and employed safety on the opposite.

On October 26, the chief of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem introduced it will cancel a once-secret 2021 land lease cope with an actual property firm that has alleged hyperlinks to settler pursuits.

Since then, representatives from the corporate, Xana Gardens, have despatched contractors, armed settlers and bulldozers to grab the land – which, together with the parking zone, contains Armenian Church property and the properties of Nalbandian and 4 different households.

The 1,600-year-old Armenian group is concentrated within the confines of the Armenian Quarter, occupying 14 p.c of the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem at its southwestern nook.

“ all of your neighbours. If I don’t have milk at 1am, I simply knock on their door. If I don’t have bread, I name my pal,” stated Setrag Balian, 26, one of many leaders of the present motion to reverse the land deal.

“We deal with one another’s children, of our households.”

This Armenian group – the oldest Armenian diaspora on this planet – has seen its inhabitants decline from some 27,000 individuals a century in the past to about 1,000 immediately.

But, with every tried demolition, the group flocks in numbers at a second’s discover, standing in the best way of bulldozers whereas withstanding threats of arrest and armed intimidation.

Nalbandian’s household dangers shedding the house they’ve lived in since 1969, beneath the deal. Garo’s spouse, Hrout, whose household has been in Jerusalem way back to the eighth or ninth century, describes her candy reminiscences of the many years of getting engaged, married and elevating children of their modest one-storey residence.

“Wherever we stroll, it’s like we’re in Armenia,” she stated. “We now have like an enormous household for the Armenians. After so a few years … to turn out to be homeless, that is very arduous.”

Garo’s studio in Wadi al-Joz is adorned with breathtaking pictures he has taken of streets and cities all over the world, from Athens to Alexandria. “However our stunning Armenian Quarter is like nowhere else,” Garo remarked. “We should shield it.”

A controversial deal

The group’s suspicions of Israeli settler aspirations within the Cows’ Backyard began in 2019 when an Israeli firm started development on that very same parking zone. On the time, the patriarchate advised the group the purpose was to renovate the lot, nothing extra, however the parking zone’s April 2021 inauguration was curiously attended by Moshe Lion, the mayor of Jerusalem, and bedecked with sufficient Israeli flags to boost eyebrows.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem – the group’s religious management, greatest employer and de facto landlord – struck a deal in July that 12 months with Xana Gardens, an organization integrated that very same month and led by the Australian Israeli investor Danny Rothman.

For 2 years, church leaders saved the group at the hours of darkness in regards to the phrases and even existence of the deal, regardless of persistent rumours. On April 1 this 12 months, witnesses say, Rothman – additionally identified in paperwork as Danny Rubenstein and Danny Kaufman – got here to the Cows’ Backyard parking zone with safety, breaking safety cameras and dismissing patriarchate guards, claiming he was taking on.

As years of rumours and suspicions in regards to the deal spilled into the open, Setrag Balian and Hagop Djernazian, 23, led the youthful technology of Armenians in combating the land takeover. Balian, who works for his household’s ceramics enterprise, joined Djernazian, a pupil at Hebrew College, for months of protests close to Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian’s places of work.

“I see myself creating my future right here,” stated Djernazian, who additionally leads the Armenian Scouts. “I research right here, I work right here, I reside right here. And that is my plan to proceed dwelling right here. The deal threatens our continued existence right here.”

A report in July this 12 months by a world staff of Armenian attorneys lastly uncovered the deal publicly.

In it, the patriarchate agreed to offer Xana Gardens a 49-year lease – with an choice to renew one other 49 – of the Cows’ Backyard to construct a luxurious resort.

Solely Xana Gardens might cancel the settlement, which was for not less than 11,500 sq. metres (123,785 sq. ft), however Xana might embody “adjoining properties within the undertaking”.

A plan submitted by Danny Rothman to the Jerusalem Municipality in Could sought 14,500sq metres – not 11,500 – for the resort, with a “goal space” of 16,000sq metres (172,222sq ft), in accordance with the report on the deal. Such an space would embody 13 p.c of your complete Armenian Quarter.

For this massive swath of prized land on contested Mount Zion, Xana Gardens would pay solely $300,000 in yearly lease.

Miran Krikorian, 40, a restaurant proprietor born and raised within the Armenian Quarter, says he pays practically 1 / 4 of that quantity for less than 30 sq. metres (323 sq. ft) he rents close by for his small restaurant within the Christian Quarter.

“Both any individual received cash beneath the desk to cross this deal, or it’s simply our individuals are so dumb that they don’t know the costs on this nation,” stated Krikorian.

Rising stress, rising threats

For months, newly put in safety guards from Xana Gardens threatened to ban group members from utilizing the parking zone in the event that they attended the protests, including to threats church officers allegedly made in direction of people who protested. However the group refused to relent.

Stress on the church to cancel the deal elevated when Jordan and the Palestinian Authority withdrew their recognition of Patriarch Manougian in Could, as they noticed the deal threatening the established order within the Outdated Metropolis, and amid considerations that stakeholders had not been consulted. The PA, Jordan and Israel are the three political authorities that endow recognition to the patriarchs in Jerusalem. The patriarchate didn’t reply to a request for feedback.

“Lots of the youthful technology needed to study via this ordeal why it’s necessary to remain in Jerusalem and why presence issues,” stated Kegham Balian, Setrag’s brother who has written on the problem for Armenian information retailers.

Manougian’s choice to cancel the deal on October 26 put to relaxation the Armenian group’s inside divide on the problem. Later that very same day, nevertheless, Israeli heavy equipment arrived on the disputed web site to attempt to start demolition.

Armenians rushed to the Cows’ Backyard, standing in entrance of equipment that was tearing up a pavement and a wall separating the patriarchate parking zone from the group parking zone.

Ten days later, on November 5, representatives from Xana Gardens, together with Rothman, returned. This time, they caused 15 settlers with them, a number of of them armed and main leashed canines.

“That is our land,” they reportedly advised native Armenians. “Go away now.”

BREAKING: Israeli Settlers arrive with weapons and canines on the Cows’ Backyard (Goverou Bardez).

Round 15:00pm, a gaggle of Israeli extremist settlers arrived on scene the place the Armenian group was having a peaceable sit-in.

Danny Rothman, backed with 15 settlers, demanded the… pic.twitter.com/ExVpctnO2e

— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) November 5, 2023

However the Armenians refused to depart. A tense standoff ensued for hours, with extra settlers arriving and but extra Armenians becoming a member of, ultimately overwhelming the armed settlers.

A number of the settlers tried to impress group members, residents stated. “You’re all goys, and when the Messiah comes, you’ll die,” one in every of them advised them.

“I’ll get you, one after the other!” George Warwar, a Christian Arab from Jaffa who had been the face of Xana Gardens on the bottom within the months main as much as the encounter, reportedly shouted.

This was the primary time most in the neighborhood had encountered Rothman, who, when approached by journalists, has refused to talk to the media. Based on Setrag Balian, Rothman, who usually lives abroad, advised police through the standoff the group wished to cancel the deal as a result of he’s Jewish.

Danny Rothman, majority shareholder of XANA Gardens, accompanied by his enterprise companion George Warwar, harassing Armenian protestors on Armenian property.

We won’t be intimidated! We won’t give up!🇦🇲#Armenian #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/6ktWccTOWY

— SaveTheArQ (@SavetheArQ) November 6, 2023

“It’s as a result of now you’re bringing armed settlers and displaying the true face of your organization,” Setrag Balian recalled telling Rothman that day. “It’s as a result of this deal is just not a great deal for the patriarchate.

“We’ve lived with our Jewish Quarter neighbours for 50 years with none main incidents,” he continued.

The act of peaceable defiance pressured Rothman and his group to withdraw after a number of hours.

“Simply by the look on Danny Rothman’s face,” stated Kegham Balian, “you may inform he wasn’t anticipating the occasions to unfold like they did that day.”

‘It didn’t scare us – it empowered us’

Negotiations are beneath manner for the church to supply better transparency relating to the administration of group lands and affairs, a key demand from protesters.

With the inner divide on the land settlement now put aside – and the warfare in Gaza drawing the world’s consideration – Armenian residents say Xana Gardens’ techniques are shifting to outright armed confrontation.

“They thought it will scare us,” stated Setrag Balian of the armed threats. “But it surely didn’t scare us – it empowered us. We’re extra united than ever.”

Manougian, usually criticised by Armenians for an absence in management, has been current throughout standoffs this month. A November 16 communique by the Armenian Patriarchate described the scenario as “presumably the best existential menace of its 16-century historical past”, condemning the 2021 contract as “tainted with false illustration, undue affect, and illegal advantages”.

Armenians worry their small, tight-knit group gained’t survive in the event that they lose the Cows’ Backyard, which includes a lot of the Armenian Quarter outdoors the Armenian Convent – a personal space initially meant for clergy, however now housing many Armenians who moved there a couple of century in the past within the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide.

The prized land is seen as pivotal to Israeli settler plans, as a long-term lease would full a path for Jewish worshippers to cross the Outdated Metropolis from Jaffa Gate to the Jewish Quarter with out crossing Christian properties, following earlier purchases of the New Imperial Resort and Petra Resort alongside that route.

For the reason that first armed confrontation by Rothman and settlers, Armenians have been taking shifts on the Cows’ Backyard, the place two bulldozers are parked.

Contractors employed by Xana Gardens tried to bulldoze the realm early within the morning on November 12 and 13. Each instances, the group sprang into motion, placing up a metallic barricade on the 12 and, on the 13, standing in a bulldozer’s path.

The group has remained nonviolent all through the confrontations, on the behest of motion leaders like Balian and Djernazian.

As demolition makes an attempt by the corporate proceed – together with an incident on November 15 by which Palestinians employed by Xana Gardens to dismantle the barricade left after they realised that they had been employed by settlers – the group stays resolute.

Through the standoffs, police threatened to arrest Armenians, and several other have been arrested for transgressions like shouting, in accordance with group members. They had been launched the identical day, however banned by police from returning to the realm.

Police have tried to implement the bulldozing efforts – though they’ve failed up to now with Xana Gardens unable to current the required permits – earlier than the land deal finds its option to court docket to be adjudicated, as stakeholders count on to occur.

A rotating group of Armenians now sleeps within the Cows’ Backyard at evening, and group members present volunteers with meals, tea, couches and even a tent for twenty-four/7 surveillance.

“This has to do with the way forward for my child,” stated Krikorian of his four-year-old boy, his eyes welling with tears.

“If I take into consideration all these issues that my child goes to lose, like this group, like being together with his pals … I grew up in that, and I need him to have the identical experiences.

“If I don’t do something now, I’m going to lose it for him sooner or later.”