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    Emil Lazarian
  • 12 months ago
    • Categories: 2024

ANCA welcomes Congressional scrutiny of attacks on Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter

 ANCA ANCA News 0

WASHINGTON—U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee member Joaquin Castro (D-TX) hosted a congressional briefing last week calling attention to escalating attacks by developers seeking to seize land from Jerusalem’s sacred Armenian Quarter to build luxury hotels, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We want to thank Representative Castro for shining a much-needed congressional spotlight on the escalation of violent attacks against Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter – a central pillar of Christendom, a true treasure for all faith traditions,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It was encouraging to see such a broad array of legislators represented in this comprehensive Capitol Hill briefing on the legal, political and spiritual aspects of this crisis.”

The January 5 briefing featured testimony from Daniel Seidemann, a globally-respected Israeli lawyer and expert on Jerusalem; Hagop Djernazian, a leader of the Save The ArQ Movement defending the rights of the Jerusalem Armenian Quarter; and Karnig Kerkonian, a prominent U.S.-based attorney representing the community in the ongoing legal dispute over the land.

Over the past several months, Israeli developers have sought to seize land from the Armenian Quarter for private commercial real estate projects. On December 28, in the wake of civil society pushback from the indigenous Armenian community, an angry mob of masked men, apparently mobilized and directed by the developers, brutally attacked a dozen Armenians, including clergy.

The ANCA has called on U.S. Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain to clearly and unequivocally condemn the ongoing efforts to intimidate Jerusalem’s historic Armenian Christian population in an X (formerly Twitter) campaign.

The Armenian Quarter is an integral part of the Old City of Jerusalem – with the Armenian presence in the city dating back to the 4th century AD, when, after Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a national religion, Armenian monks settled in Jerusalem.

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.


Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS