Palestinians furious over Israeli court’s ruling on sale of Jerusalem church land to settler group
AMMAN: Israel’s top court has ruled that a Jewish settler group legally purchased property in East Jerusalem from the Greek Orthodox Church. The decision ends a dispute over the buildings in the Old City that has lasted for almost two decades.
The Ateret Cohanim organization, which seeks to “Judaize” Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, bought three buildings from the church in a controversial secret deal struck in 2004. The sale sparked fury among Palestinians and led to the dismissal of Patriarch Irineos I.