Court decision suspending the sale of three church properties to the settlers

Court decision suspending the sale of three church properties to the settlers

Last July, the Israeli Supreme Court issued its final ruling validating the sale of three sites, properties of the Greek Orthodox Church, located in the Old City close to the Jaffa Gate to settler group Ateret Cohanim. Two of the properties are located near Jaffa Gate, one of the most sensitive areas in the Old City: the Imperial Hotel and the Petra Hotel. This area is particularly sensitive because it is the place where all the four quarters of the Old City intersected, bordering not only the Jewish Quarter but also with the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the entrance to the Muslim Quarter’s souk.

By an unexpected turn of events, the judge of a Jerusalem District court to all intents and purposes ordered to the case to be reopened. The Greek Orthodox Church filed a new petition containing purportedly new evidence of systematic wrongdoing on the part of the settlers.  After the shell companies used by Ateret Cohanim failed to respond to this  new petition, the Court ordered the case reopened. The court also ordered Ateret Cohanim to pay 50,000 NIS to the Orthodox Church Patriarch in legal costs of the procedure.

Consequently, last July’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of the settlers may not be the final word after all.