Court rules for right-wing Jewish group in Old City church properties dispute

The Jerusalem District Court issues a landmark ruling that upholds a set of real estate deals struck between officials from the Greek Orthodox Church and an Israeli right-wing group for two hotels near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Judge Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, deputy head of the district court, rules that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate were unable to establish that the deals, made in 2004 between the patriarchate and three overseas front companies for the Ateret Cohanim organization, were fraudulent or involved bribery.

A 2005 expose in the Maariv newspaper about the agreements to lease the Petra and Imperial hotels for 99 years, with options to extend for a further 99 years, caused uproar among Palestinians both within and outside the church, and led to the sacking and demotion of then-patriarch Irenaios.

Irenaios claimed that the deals were signed by his finance director Nikolas Papademos, misusing a power of attorney he had issued to allow him to deal with other affairs.

Ateret Cohanim works to acquire property to establish a Jewish majority in the Old City and in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, and was behind the front companies that obtained the leases.

— Sue Surkes