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Hereditary connection: Russia and Israel have resumed contacts on the Alexandrovsky farmstead
Russia and Israel have resumed contacts on the transfer of the Alexandrovsky compound in Jerusalem to the Russian Federation, Izvestia found out. After a long pause, little progress has been made, which gives hope for real steps in resolving the long-standing dispute. The courtyard, built at the end of the 19th century and registered to the Romanov house, found itself in legal limbo after the First World War. The Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS), together with the Russian authorities, have been seeking the return of the facility for many years. According to Israeli media reports, this topic was raised during contacts between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The question of the return of the Alexandrovsky farmstead
After a long time, Russia and Israel return to discussing the dossier of the Alexander Monastery, one of the oldest sites of Russian spiritual and cultural heritage in the Holy Land. The issue, in fact, was on hold amid regional crises and rising tensions. Informed sources told Izvestia that progress was made in the negotiations on this issue in November, and discussions are moving forward again through diplomatic and legal channels on the Israeli side.
The Alexander courtyard is located a few dozen meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The building, built at the end of the 19th century and designed for the Romanov house, became the subject of a long-running dispute over ownership after the 1917 revolution. By the early 2000s, it was under the control of the so-called Orthodox Palestinian Society, which declared itself the successor to the pre-revolutionary IOPS. The Russian IOPS, together with government agencies, has been seeking the re-registration of the compound for many years.
Interest in the topic has been repeatedly expressed at the highest political level in recent years. As the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported in August, Benjamin Netanyahu, during recent contacts with Vladimir Putin, raised not only the issues of Iran and Syria, but also the topic of the Alexander Courtyard, which, according to Israeli interlocutors of the publication, the Russian leader considers "very personal." The newspaper pointed out that an interdepartmental group of ministers, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, were supposed to resume discussing the dossier in the fall after delays related to the war in Gaza and tensions around Iran.
According to Israeli press reports, the process is under the control of the National Security Council and the Prime Minister's Office. The head of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, Sergei Stepashin, argued that there were no legal obstacles to recognizing the object as the property of the Russian Federation.
The Russian side is counting on a positive decision on the transfer of the farmstead. The Russian Ambassador to the country, Anatoly Viktorov, previously noted that cooperation with Israeli structures on this issue continues, and the topic itself has long moved to the legal plane.
"Some of the difficulties with its transfer are largely related to legal issues, and the successful completion of this process would certainly be an important sign of warming bilateral relations due to the significance of this gesture for Russia," Lyudmila Samarskaya, a researcher at the Center for Middle East Studies at the IMEMO RAS, told Izvestia.
In 2020, the registrar of real estate of the Ministry of Justice of Israel has already made a decision in favor of resuming the registration of the compound for the Russian Federation, and this position was confirmed by a higher authority. However, the issue was subsequently referred to the court, which concluded that such decisions should be made exclusively by the Government. Further work is being carried out by a working group created by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The history of the Alexandrovsky farmstead
The Alexander Courtyard has long been a part of the Russian cultural and spiritual identity in Jerusalem. It is easy to find it in the center of the Old Town: a large Lutheran church is located opposite, and a few steps separate it from the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The penultimate stop of the pilgrimage route Via Dolorosa ("The Way of Sorrow") leads to this building with the inscription "Alexander Courtyard" engraved in gold letters.
Two particularly revered shrines are kept here — the Doomsday Gate, through which, according to legend, Christ was led to execution, and a massive stone from Golgotha. The central place is occupied by the church of St. Alexander Nevsky, consecrated in 1896. It is made in a characteristic Russian style and decorated with icons and frescoes.
Against the background of political and legal disputes, the church itself and the metochion continue to receive pilgrims, and the issue of their final status remains an important element of the Russian-Israeli agenda.
After the First World War and the collapse of the Russian Empire, the fate of Russian real estate in Palestine was in a state of uncertainty. The British mandate, which established control over the territory, refused to recognize the Soviet state as the successor to the tsarist government. As a result, the Alexander courtyard, officially registered in the Ottoman registers for the Imperial government, lost its legally recognized owner. Russian Russian facilities were transferred by Britain to the management of the Orthodox Palestinian Society (RPO), created by the Russian emigration.
Great Thursday procession of the Orthodox Palestinian Society in the Alexandrovsky courtyard
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the partition of Jerusalem, the compound ended up in Jordanian-controlled territory, where the British property management order continued to operate. Israel, on the contrary, recognized the USSR as the legal successor of the Russian Empire and was ready to re-register the real estate that appeared in its control zone to the Soviet state — but the Alexandrovsky compound was not one of these objects.
The situation became more complicated after the Six-Day War in 1967, when East Jerusalem came under Israeli control, but was recognized by the international community as an occupied territory, which limited the legal possibilities for registration of property rights.
The turning point came after the restoration of Russian-Israeli relations in the early 1990s. The Russian Federation has officially revived the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, and the Israeli authorities have begun the process of clarifying the legal status of Russian facilities. In the 2010s, a large-scale search was conducted for archival documents that confirmed Russia's historical right to the farmstead.
Finally, a few years ago, Israel decided to re-register the Alexander Court to the Russian Federation instead of the Russian Empire, which became an important milestone in the long history of this dossier. However, the implementation of the decision was suspended due to appeals. The court proceedings are still ongoing. Nevertheless, after more than a century, Russia can regain its once-lost property in the Holy Land.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
