Petra Hotel i Jerusalem: Til tross for korrupsjon og bestikkelser ... Israels Høyesterett støttet uretten

 Haaretz 27. mars 2022: (HELE artikkelen nederst under Kilde)

"Jewish Settlers Move Into Historic Building in Jerusalem’s Old City Christian Quarter"

"The controversial battle by an Israeli settler organization for Jewish ownership of the hotel, which Christians see as crucial for area's character, has been ongoing for 18 years".

EDIT:
9. juni 2022

"The Supreme Court rejected the Greek Church’s appeal and the settlers won strategic properties in the Old City"

https://peacenow.org.il/en/petra-and-new-imperial-jaffa-gate-verdict

 

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Til tross for korrupsjon og bestikkelser ... Israels Høyesterett støttet uretten.

 

Skudeneshavn    28. februar 2022/11. juni 2022

Jan Marton Jensen 

På Twitter:

11. juni 2022
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1535721114177048577

 

Ny info:

9. juni 2022
https://peacenow.org.il/en/petra-and-new-imperial-jaffa-gate-verdict

 

Kilde:

28. mars 2022
https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/03/28/greek-patriarchate-jerusalem/

27. mars 2022
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-settlers-move-into-historic-building-in-jerusalem-s-old-city-christian-quarter-1.10702161?utm_source=traffic.outbrain.com&utm_medium=referrer&utm_campaign=outbrain_organic 

25. juni 2020
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-greek-orthodox-jerusalem-properties-sale

29. november 2019
https://www.timesofisrael.com/judge-orders-case-reopened-in-long-running-e-jerusalem-church-property-dispute/

 21. juli 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/21/jerusalem-jaffa-gate-new-imperial-hotel-final-showdown

16. juli 2019:
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5551530,00.html

 

HELE artikkelen i Haaretz 27. mars 2022:

Nir Hasson:

Jewish Settlers Move Into Historic Building in Jerusalem’s Old City Christian Quarter

The controversial battle by an Israeli settler organization for Jewish ownership of the hotel, which Christians see as crucial for area's character, has been ongoing for 18 years

The Petra Hotel by the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, in 2020.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg

 

Following an 18-year legal battle, members of a settler organization have moved into the Petra Hotel in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Currently, Ateret Cohanim occupies only part of the Petra Hotel, but Christians in Jerusalem consider the hotel a strategic building that could affect the character of the Old City’s entire Christian Quarter.

Located near Jaffa Gate, the hotel is one of two large buildings the organization bought from the previous Greek Orthodox patriarch, Irenaios, in a controversial deal. The other is the nearby Imperial Hotel.

When the deal came to light in 2005, it sparked a major crisis within the local branch of the Greek Orthodox church that culminated in Irenaios’ unprecedented dismissal. His replacement, Theophilos III, then tried to repudiate the deal and get it overturned.

The entrance to the Petra Hotel in Jerusalem, in 2020.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg

 

But the Jerusalem District Court, and later the Supreme Court, ratified it, despite concluding that there were “shadows and black holes in the moves that led to the agreement’s signing.” Among other things, it was proven that Ateret Cohanim had paid a church official.

The patriarchate then asked the district court for a retrial. Its request was based on an affidavit by Ted Bloomfield, who had worked for Ateret Cohanim in the 1990s and said the organization had regularly paid bribes to senior church officials. He also said it had offered sexual bribes and that an assessor’s valuation of the property had been concealed from the court.

But in 2020, Judge Moshe Bar-Am ruled that the patriarchate submitted this affidavit too late. He said it could have submitted the document even before the original hearing in the Jerusalem District Court, as evidenced by the fact that Bloomfield’s claims had been reported by Haaretz two and half years earlier. He also said Bloomfield’s affidavit didn’t relate directly to the 2004 sale of the hotels, but to earlier deals that never went through.

The patriarchate has appealed this decision, too, and the Supreme Court is expected to hear the appeal in another few months.

Ever since its victory in the district court, however, Ateret Cohanim has been waging a separate legal battle against the Qiresh family, which runs the hotel under a lease from the patriarchate. And Sunday morning, Ateret Cohanim members entered the building’s first floor under police escort. Under the terms of the lease, this floor is separate from the rest of the hotel, which is why the organization was able to take possession.

 

The two properties included in the deal, the Imperial Hotel and the Petra Hotel, in 2019. Credit: Emil Salman

Lawyers for the Qiresh family, Medhat Deeba and Maher Hanna, argued that the settlers were in fact trespassing, but said the police refused to even listen to them. They also said one of the settlers attacked Deeba with pepper spray and that police then detained Deeba and took him to the station for questioning.

Police said he isn’t suspected of anything and was only taken there to give a statement.