Jews destroyed road to Armenian Patriarchate estate in Jerusalem, local Armenian community member says

The land belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate in Israel has become a “bone of contention.”

A few days ago, the Patriarchate announced that it had unilaterally terminated the land lease agreement, prompting backlash from the management of the company that leased the land and Jewish extremists. The day before, an armed group of Israelis with dogs arrived at a plot of land belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate and demanded the Armenian community leave. Despite the demands of Jewish radical extremists, the Armenians refused to back down. The Armenian Patriarch and other clergy also arrived there. However, the situation escalated so much that the police also came to the scene.

Speaking to Alpha News, a representative of the Armenian community of Jerusalem, Hakob Jernazyan, briefed on yesterday’s incident. He said that after the agreement’s cancellation, Aurora Care, an Australian-registered company that leased the site, tried to start construction by demolishing the fence and asphalt road to the estate, called Goveroun Bardez. They could not damage the fence but managed to destroy part of the asphalt.

It should be noted that the land plot owned by the Armenian Patriarchate was leased under an agreement concluded on July 8, 2021. According to Hakob Jernazyan, over the past two years, the company that rented the territory did not engage in construction work. It was only in April of this year that the management of the company entered the territory of the Goveroun Bardez estate and tried to establish control.

According to Hakob Jernazyan, in previous years, Jewish radicals also tried to drive Armenians out of this territory, but there were no serious incidents. However, this time the Jews were armed; fortunately, no one was injured during the incident.
The Armenian community continues to control this land. The Armenian Patriarchate is awaiting a written response from the company that leased the land plot to cancel the deal unilaterally.