The leaders of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in Jerusalem have responded to the proposal by Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked that land belonging to the churches in Jerusalem be nationalized. Negotiations between the developers who bought the land from the churches and the parties leasing the land since the 1950s have reached a deadlock and following last week's report in "Globes," the churches' leaders sent a letter yesterday calling for urgent intervention by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the measure.
"Globes" reported that Shaked had announced her intention to have a bill proposed by MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) in defense of residents living on land in Jerusalem owned by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches and sublet decades ago from the Jewish National Fund (JNF) passed by the Ministerial Legislative Committee. Following the appeal by the churches' leaders, however, Netanyahu yesterday decided to postpone the vote on the bill for two weeks.
In their letter, the churches' leaders mentioned the prime minister's promise in June that he would postpone any discussion of Azaria's bill and any legislation relating to the churches' land until Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi researches the subject and recommends fair and worthy solutions.
The churches' leaders say that they held their first meeting with Hanegbi only in September, at which they understood that the prime minister's stance had not changed, and that legislation on the subject had been halted. For this reason, they said, they were surprised to discover that Azaria's bill was likely to be discussed tomorrow by the Ministerial Legislative Committee.
Armenian Apostolic Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, Catholic Church of the Holy Land Vicar Rev. Dobromir Jasztal, and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III signed the letter.
The letter also states that the churches regard Shaked's measure as a "crude violation of the prime minister's decision that breaches promises made to the churches' leaders by Minister Hanegbi in their meeting."
The churches' leaders therefore called on the prime minister to intervene urgently on the matter and halt any legislation pertaining to the churches' land.
Nayot Komemiyut Investments, which acquires the Greek Orthodox Church's land in the Nayot, Talbieh, and Valley of the Cross neighborhoods, said in response, "Regardless of what the Ministry of Justice announced, no negotiations with us have taken place up until now. One preliminary meeting was held in the Ministry of Justice in which the parties agreed that negotiations should go ahead. We were then asked to send documents, and we did so. The next thing we heard was this announcement. The negotiations did not reach an impasse, because none took place. In any case, the proposed bill is clearly unconstitutional and violates basic property and contractual rights; it cannot withstand a legal test. It appears that the entire maneuver is aimed at creating pressure on the developers in advance of negotiations with them. Furthermore, the interest in the legislation is unclear. This bill will prevent any future possibility of buying land from churches in Israel."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 21, 2018
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