After being attacked in Old City by Jewish extremists, members of the Armenian Christian clergy face expulsion

Jerusalem / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh for PNN - A group of Jewish extremists attacked on Sunday afternoon two young Armenians and destroyed a cross near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in East Jerusalem’s Old City. Israeli settlers such as these have attacked for years members of the clergy in the Armenian Quarter. Today the Armenians who were assaulted Sunday are not being protected, but rather expelled. The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights today denounced the attack, just prior the Israeli-controlled municipality issuing orders to shut down the center for another year. A spokesman for the Armenian Patriarchate said Tuesday that the two men who were attacked are still being held. The attackers are free. Israeli police arrested the men after they resisted the extremists. Now the occupying Israeli administration may expel the Christians under the pretext they carry Armenian nationality. The Armenian Patriarchate sent an urgent message to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging them to nullify the expulsion decision. The spokesman for the Patriarch confirmed that incidents of abuse and provocation of young Armenians by Jewish fundamentalists are “constantly repeated.” He denounced the expulsion order that was issued quickly and without trial. The two young men are students studying religious teachings. They are just 18 years of age. The Jerusalem Center said today that the Israeli police that occupy Jerusalem should have stopped the Jewish extremists who continue to attack the clergy in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. “These attacks have been going on for years, but the Israeli police have done nothing to stop them despite the seriousness of the attacks which take place as part of the wider issue of religious racism.”