An Arab-Israeli shopkeeper is locked in a Byzantine battle with the Coptic Church over an ancient Jerusalem cellar, in a saga involving Christianity’s holiest site and a 12th century Muslim general.
Lawyers on both sides expect authorities to decide soon whether the disputed basement adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is sacred or not, and whether the Egyptian Christians or the Israeli Muslim can claim ownership.
The legal battle over the centuries-old vaulted stone cellar has been festering for 14 years in the heart of the Holy City, a flashpoint of political and religious conflict.
PHOTO: AFP
It has as many twists and turns as the Old City, a maze of narrow streets and intrigue, and features top Middle East political players.
Antonios al-Orshaleme, general secretary of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, insists the basement is holy ground and was once part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by most Christians as the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.
Orshaleme says the vast cellar, which runs under both the patriarchate and the grocery store, had been a church at least as long as the Holy Sepulchre, but remains vague as to when it was last used as such.
The church was built in the fourth century. Its destruction seven centuries later provided an impetus for the Crusades. It was rebuilt in 1048 following agreement between the Byzantine Empire and the region’s Muslim rulers.
“Here is a monastery, below is also a monastery,” says Orshaleme as he points to the ground below the patriarchate.
Not so, says lawyer Reuven Yehoshua, who represents storekeeper Hazam Hirbawi.
“For 800 years this cellar was used as a garbage dump,” Yehoshua says.
The entrance to the basement, which can be seen from above through a mesh of wire, is cluttered with a jumble of discarded objects.
Yehoshua points to a 1921 survey that describes the basement as being “disgusting” and filled with cesspools.
“This is what they say is a holy place?” Yehoshua asks, shaking his head.
A history buff, Yehoshua bases his arguments on a wealth of ancient documents, including one showing that Salah ad-Din (Saladin) — the 12th century military commander who defeated the Crusaders — issued a writ giving Muslims control of the area where the store is now located, and the basements below it.
Orshaleme admits that part is true and points out, with a smile, it goes to show Christians were the original owners.
“This whole area was part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Salah ad-Din made the church smaller and surrounded it with Muslims so it could not grow strong again,” he says.
The modern dispute started in 1996 when Hazam Hirbawi was sent by his father to the cellar to pick up a stone he needed to repair a wall in the building, only to find 10 Copts digging and clearing out mud and rubble.
“I asked what they were doing. They said: ‘We’re fixing our place,’” Hirbawi says. “We kicked them out.”
Orshaleme says Hirbawi had no right to interfere with the Copts.
“Hirbawi came down and made problems with workers from the church,” he says.
The Coptic Church, which is predominantly Egyptian, took its case to the Egyptian authorities, who in turn raised it with then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
“Arafat told [Egyptian] President Hosni Mubarak the Copts could have it, as a gift from him to Egypt,” says Hirbawi, who like his father is Arab-Israeli.
Hirbawi’s father refused to cave in and was eventually arrested by agents from Arafat’s Preventive Security, who took him to the Palestinian political capital Ramallah.
The dispute rapidly snowballed and hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who served a first term at the time, sent forces to surround Ramallah.
The elder Hirbawi was released three days later and took the issue to the Israeli authorities.
The issue is one of clout for the Copts, a comparatively small denomination and among those who share ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre under a fragile agreement which hasn’t always been enough to prevent brawls between rival monks.
For Hirbawi, it’s a question of principle.
“Nobody can take what you own by force. And it is forbidden for something that belongs to Muslims to be taken by a Christian,” he says.
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