by Daoud Kuttab

A group of young Armenians held a protest vigil Friday evening, demanding to know the details of the lease deals for church property. They also demanded that the three who signed the deal to lease the lands of the cow gardens, Patriarch Nourhan, and his deputy at the time, Baret Yeretsian, and the Patriarchate’s general secretary, Sevan Garbian, withdraw their signatures to the contract.

Protestors also agreed to work during the next week with the Armenian communities abroad, and then return to a new vigil next Friday.

Sources in Jerusalem say that the Armenian Honorary Consul, Tsolag Momjian, pledged to help find lawyers to participate in filing lawsuits with the aim of canceling the land lease. The lease of the sensitive Jerusalem old city lands is the source of the dispute that brought about a decision by Jordan and Palestine to withdraw recognition of Patriarch Manogian.

An informed source expects that the cancellation of the land lease contract will cost millions of dollars, which is the contractual penalty for canceling the lease.

The St James Synod of the Armenian issued a brief statement on May 12^th expressing “surprise at the timing” of the Jordanian-Palestinian decision, which came immediately after the issuance of a decisive action defrocking the former Deputy Patriarch Baret Yeretesian whom they blame as being responsible for the controversial deal. The statement pledged that the Patriarchate and the Synod would continue to defend the interests of the Church and the Armenian community.

Barrett Yeretsian responded to the statement by saying that he had met previously with the synod and asked them to invite the lawyers who prepared the lease, but they refused. Baret also said, “the patriarch never once asked me how we could solve this problem.”

A US-based law firm has also offered to provide legal support in the case. See letter below

None of the heads of Christian churches nor the Israeli occupation state commented on the decision to withdraw recognition, which was published in the official Jordanian and Palestinian news agencies.