MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: The court battle over the ownership of the Alexander Metochion (the Alexander Courtyard) in the Old City of Jerusalem will not affect relations between Israel and Russia, because they are stronger than such challenges, Israeli Charge d’Affaires in Moscow Eli Belotserkovsky said at an online briefing organized by the Unified Information Center of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
"As for the Alexander Metochion, this case is indeed in court. I want to say, however, that our ties, relations between Israel and Russia are very strong. Dialogue has been maintained at all levels, so I am sure that we will be able to cope with any challenges that we encounter," he stressed.
The Alexander Metochion is located in the Old City of Jerusalem in close proximity to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Threshold of the Judgement Gate and the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky are located on its territory. The land for its construction was purchased by Russian Emperor Alexander II in 1859. The compound was built by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in 1896. The controversy surrounding its ownership began after the 1917 Revolution in Russia.
On January 23, Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection and Co-Chairman of the Russian-Israeli intergovernmental commission Ze’ev Elkin said that Israel had begun the legal process of registering the Alexander Metochion to Russia in response to Moscow’s request.
On April 7, The Marker Israeli newspaper reported that the Jerusalem District Court had suspended the registration until the hearing over a lawsuit filed by an organization known as the Orthodox Palestine Society in the Holy Land that was unlawfully occupying the grounds had been completed. Later on, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow would soon submit a response to the lawsuit with the court.
