By Daoud Kuttab

Unknown Israeli radical individuals with the protection of the Israeli police have illegally entered the parking lot of the Armenian Quarter built on an area called Cows Garden and destroyed a shed at the site. The action an attempt to change the status quo in this area carried out without any court-issued order appears to be the works of the Xana company that is trying to bypass the courts by insisting on their ownership of a sensitive and strategic Jerusalem old city area that is about one-fourth of the Armenian quarter. Two court cases have been filed at Israeli courts, one by the Armenian Community and one by the Armenian Patriarchate. Both aim to legitimize the centuries-old ownership of the Armenian property since 1700 AD.

Leaders of the Save the Armenian Quarter Movement issued an impromptu video explaining the Israeli illegal actions. The Armenian Patriarchate issued A strongly worded communique denouncing the action and accusing the police of bias.

An Israeli peace lawyer Daniel Siedman tweeted that the action is influenced by the racist Israeli police minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “There are two pending court proceedings and after prior assaults by the settlers, the only reasonable arrangement was reached: maintain the status quo.

His tweet says that the action is aimed at rescinding the arrangement to suspend all issues regarding the property. Seidman asks who is behind this action “The settlers? Only indirectly. The police are doing the dirty work for them. This is Ben Gvir’s militia. Not the Israeli Police by which they are known. Ben Gvir’s militia.”

Siedman reflects that for months, hundreds of the residents of the Armenian Quarter have been guarding their property in shifts, to ward off the incursion of the settlers. “It’s proved to be effective, and they have succeeded so far. They have a lean-to to protect them against the elements.”

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry, the Higher Presidential Council for Churches in the Occupied Territories, and the French Consulate in Jerusalem all issued strong statements protesting the Israeli attempts to change the status quo in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter.

Below are the official statements of the Patriarchate and the Save the Armenian Quarter Movement