The Armenians in Jerusalem 2
The presence of Armenians in Palestine dates back to the fourth century AD. There is a belief that the presence of Armenians in Jerusalem as a group has not ceased since then. In the Roman era, Armenians played the role of merchants and craftsmen and excelled in the professions derived from this role. In any case, the Armenians were among the first pilgrims to establish khans and hospitality centres in Palestine to receive pilgrims.
European and Arab travellers did not ignore the news of the Armenians when they recorded the details of their travels. They referred to them, reported their news, and mentioned their churches and monasteries. The traveller Laurent Darvieux (1635-1702) mentioned on his trip to Palestine that there was an Armenian church in Gaza. Count Dovolny mentioned on his trip in 1785 that in Jaffa there was a monastery for Orthodox Armenians and that in Acre there was a church for them. As for Alfonso de la Martin (1790–1869), he mentioned in his famous trip to the Levant that he made at the end of 1832 that there were several Armenians in Jaffa.
The Armenians in Palestine were the third Christian community in number and importance after the Greek Orthodox and Latins. The collective tax imposed on the Armenian residents of the Sanjak of Jerusalem in 1886 in exchange for exemption from military service in the Ottoman armies was equivalent to $260 at the prices of those days. While it was $1,217 for the Orthodox, $826 for the Latins, $56 for the Copts, $37 for the Protestants, and $17 for the Catholics,. This means that the number of Armenians was greater than that of Copts, Catholics, and Protestants and less than that of Orthodox and Latins. According to this arrangement, supervision of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was divided in 1856, that is, after the famous Crimean War in 1853, between the Latins and the Orthodox.
It was natural for the Armenian population to mix with the Arabs for several reasons, including that they had mastered the Arabic language and spoke it like its natives, albeit with a very light accent for some of them, which was admired by those listening to it. Among them are feelings of belonging that are termed “identity,” because the presence of Armenians in Jerusalem was contrary to the logic of the existence of “minorities” in the entire world. They did not feel like a minority or act like a minority. While they fully preserved their privacy as a people with their traditions, customs, and characteristics, and despite their distinction by being called Kaghakatsi, which is a word meaning the local Armenians of Jerusalem, they were able to integrate into all aspects of life in Jerusalem, such that the word “Armenian” did not mean belonging to a foreign community. In short, the Armenian in the city of Jerusalem, where the majority of Palestinian Armenians lived, was, as he was in all other Palestinian cities, “Armenian” in every sense of the word, just as he was “Palestinian” in every sense of the word. The Palestinian Arabs never looked at the Armenians except as they looked at the people of one homeland. Perhaps the constant contribution of Armenians in the fields of culture, art, and science is evidence of their total integration into the fabric of this ancient city.
The Armenian Quarter, or what is known as the Armenian Monastery, which has an area of 300 dunams, one-sixth of the area of the Old City, contains a group of houses that were previously a shelter for pilgrims and later became houses rented to Armenians, in addition to a place of worship, a school, a museum, and a medical clinic. The site is distinguished by the Cathedral of Saint James, where Armenians work hard to preserve the building and the sacred relics that constitute the heart of the Armenian community within the Armenian Quarter. This edifice dates back to the twelfth century and contains a treasure trove of priceless artworks and artefacts. According to Armenian tradition, whoever converts to Christianity must make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at least once in his life. Throughout the ages, many famous Armenian kings and queens, statesmen, princes, and people from all social circles have made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, carrying with them souvenirs from their country to leave a distinctive trace of Armenian civilization in Jerusalem. Armenians consider the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to be a great honour that guarantees the pilgrim a special social status.
It was natural for the Armenian population to mix with the Arabs for several reasons, including that they had mastered the Arabic language and spoke it like its natives, albeit with a very light accent for some of them, which was admired by those listening to it; Among them are feelings of belonging that are termed “identity,” because the presence of Armenians in Jerusalem was contrary to the logic of the existence of “minorities” in the entire world. They did not feel like a minority or act like a minority. While they fully preserved their privacy as a people with their traditions, customs and characteristics, and despite their distinction by being called Kaghakatsi, which is a word meaning the local Armenians of Jerusalem, they were able to integrate into all aspects of life in Jerusalem, such that the word “Armenian” did not mean belonging to a foreign community. In short, the Armenian in the city of Jerusalem, where the majority of Palestinian Armenians lived, was, as he was in all other Palestinian cities, “Armenian” in every sense of the word, just as he was “Palestinian” in every sense of the word. The Palestinian Arabs never looked at the Armenians except as they looked at the people of one homeland. Perhaps the constant contribution of Armenians in the fields of culture, art and science is evidence of their total integration into the fabric of this ancient city.
Armenians and politics
Armenians' involvement in politics is relatively low, but this does not mean that they are isolated. Their youth became involved in national action, and many of them joined under the banner of Palestinian factions, organizations, and political parties. Most Armenians support the idea of a two-state solution and are against the settlement, like the rest of the Palestinian people, and even participate in confronting it. The Armenians categorically reject the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem as remaining under Israeli sovereignty. In principle, they are against the division of the Holy City, and they believe that it must remain under the sovereignty and control of its Palestinian citizens.
Armenians, like the majority of Jerusalemites, suffer from the policies of the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality, as the Armenian Quarter is adjacent to the Jewish Quarter and occupies a huge portion of the Old City’s area. Despite the small population, emptying and seizing it will contribute significantly to the expansion of the Jewish Quarter. In addition, students of Jewish religious schools almost daily harass Armenian clergy and deliberately desecrate Armenian property. As for Armenian youth, they find few opportunities for education or work in the Old City of Jerusalem, so they go abroad to obtain a university education, and when they return to Jerusalem, they are surprised that they have lost their right to residency and their identities have been withdrawn, even though they were born in Jerusalem and their families have been living in Jerusalem for a long time. Several centuries. It is also known that the Armenian Patriarchate invested its money during the British mandate in the real estate field, which made it one of the largest landowners in Jerusalem. Because the city's Armenian quarter is adjacent to the new Jewish settlement neighbourhoods, this has resulted in constant friction between Armenians and Jews. The Israeli authorities tried to force the Armenian Church to sell its lands to expand settlement operations, and they confiscated some properties, including the Fast Hotel building, which was demolished, and then its land was sold to an Israeli company that built a new hotel in its place. The patriarchate filed a lawsuit with the Israeli Supreme Court of Appeal. However, the court has not decided on this issue yet.
The Armenian Church in Palestine took honourable national stances against the Israeli occupation and against the decision to partition Palestine. On March 3, 1948, representatives of eleven Christian sects in Palestine sent an appeal to the United Nations and to international religious and political bodies in which they declared their rejection of partition and demanded the independence of Palestine as a democratic state in which everyone, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, could participate in governance. This appeal was signed by the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate and the representation of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate.
In this context, it is worth noting that the young Armenian Harut Kolzian, who fell as a martyr of the Intifada on August 11, 1991, was one of the martyrs of the Intifada in the city of Ramallah, where a massive public march was launched in the Armenian neighbourhood, in which patriotic chants on the one hand and the prayers of Armenian priests, on the other hand, merged in a majestic scene that brought Arabs and Armenians together.
Some members of the Armenian community held high-ranking positions in the Palestinian National Authority, including Manawil Hassassian, the former Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, and academic Albert Agazarian, the official spokesman for the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference in 1991.
Creative Armenians
Armenians were the first to bring the camera to Jerusalem and the first to establish a photography workshop there, and they were the second to introduce printing to Palestine in 1833. They also mastered sewing and jewellery, including the sheikh of Palestinian pharmacists, Nubar Arsalian, who used to make medicines with his own hands. Armenian craftsmen worked to spread these industries in various parts of the Palestinian territories. Today, most Armenians in Jerusalem work in making and selling jewellery and in making and decorating copper vessels, and many of them own shops that sell gifts to tourists coming to the Holy Land.
The Armenians traditionally controlled the shoe manufacturing sector, but this sector began to shrink due to competition from ready-made shoes and due to the occupation’s harassment of the Palestinian industrial sector in general in the city of Jerusalem.
Prepared by Ahmed Ibrahim
Source https://milhilard.org/
