A Quarter of Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter Leased for 99 Years: Christians Fear for Their Community After a Church Land Deal

• About 25% of Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter, the Cows’ Garden, was leased for 99 years
• The investor, Danny Rubenstein, plans a luxury hotel complex
• The Armenian Patriarch says the deal was fraudulent and made without his knowledge
• Around 2,000 Armenian Christians live in the quarter

A land deal involving the Armenian Church in Jerusalem has left one of the city’s oldest Christian communities fearing for its future. Premier reported in June 2023 that roughly a quarter of the Armenian Quarter, an area known as Goveru Bardez or the “Cows’ Garden”, had been leased for 99 years to an investor planning a luxury hotel complex.

The lessee was named as Danny Rubenstein, a businessman. The deal was handled by Baret Yeretsian, then a priest and director of real estate for the Armenian Patriarchate. The quarter is home to about 2,000 Armenian Christians.

The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Nourhan Manougian, said he had been deceived, describing the deal as “fraudulent” and saying it took place without his knowledge. Yeretsian, accused by local residents of betrayal, fled his residence and was later defrocked by the church, though he denied wrongdoing. Concern had been building since 2021, when 18 Armenian clergymen signed a statement of concern.

Residents staged protests demanding the deal be revoked. Community activist Hagop Djernazian said it would affect “cultural daily life” and the “entire mosaic of Jerusalem”. The Palestinian Authority and Jordan’s King Abdullah II suspended their recognition of the Patriarch.

The case shows how a single property decision can threaten an entire community when church land is also the ground on which that community lives. Long leases can be as consequential as outright sales, and decisions taken by one official without proper oversight can be very hard to undo.

Churches in Jamaica also hold land where families live, farm and worship, often under old arrangements. The Jerusalem dispute underlines the need for clear governance over church property: decisions on leases and sales should be approved by the proper bodies, recorded openly and explained to the people most affected, whether they live on the land at home or support the church from the diaspora.

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