Israeli settlers attack Armenian community in occupied East Jerusalem
Israeli settlers have used the cover of the ongoing war on Gaza to attempt to take over a large parcel of the Armenian Quarter.
The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has issued an emergency communique warning that a "massive and coordinated physical attack was launched on bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, and other Armenian community members in Jerusalem," by Israeli settlers.
"Over 30 armed provocateurs in ski-masks with lethal and less-than-lethal weaponry including powerful nerve-agents that have incapacitated dozens of our clergy broke into the grounds of the Cow's Garden and began their vicious assault," said the statement.
"Armenian clerics in Jerusalem are fighting for their lives against impune provacateurs," added the communique.
With Israel’s war on Gaza taking much of the world's attention, Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, including the Old City in East Jerusalem, have increasingly used the distraction to press illegal land claims.