Father Atallah Hanna Archbishop of the Palestinian Orthodox Church in Occupied Jerusalem has threatened to stage protests against the real estate deals that involved the lease of three church-owned buildings for a right-wing Jewish settler group in east Jerusalem.
In his meeting on Sunday with Christian clerics in Jerusalem Father Hanna stated that the Orthodox Church would not allow Jewish settlers to live in buildings that are part of the Christian Orthodox heritage in the holy city pledging to thwart the Israeli plan.
Father Hanna called for urgent action to prevent any Jewish settler from occupying the church-owned properties in Bab al-Khalil (Jaffa Gate) area of the Old City.
“We call for practical steps to foil this conspiratorial scheme against the Christian presence in our holy city” he said.
“As the Jerusalemites succeeded with their unity steadfastness and firmness in forcing the occupation authorities to remove the metal gates and cameras from the Aqsa Mosque’s entrances we are also capable with our unity fraternity and solidarity of frustrating this ominous and dangerous plot that targets our Orthodox mortmain properties in Bab al-Khalil” Archbishop underscored.
“I call for real protest steps which could include pitching a sit-in tent in Bab al-Khalil near the targeted hotels or storming these hotels to challenge the settlers who plan to take them over” he stressed.
The Israeli district court in Jerusalem recently confirmed the validity of three real estate deals struck between officials from the Greek Orthodox Church and overseas straw buyers that acted secretly on behalf of an Israeli right-wing settler group.
The district court ruled that the agreements in which three major east Jerusalem buildings including two hotels had been leased in 2004 for 99 renewable years by Ateret Cohanim organization through three overseas holding companies were “valid and did not involve a fraudulent activity.”
The deals were so appalling and devastating to the Palestinians because behind them stood Ateret Cohanim which works to acquire property to establish a Jewish majority in the Old City and in Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.
