room with a view: long-term lease

Separate deals. Back room deals. Secret deals. off the books deals. The last Supper: a second sitting? the line up is around the block from Zion’s gate… Who owns what and where and the mirage and myriad of ownership rights, holding companies, management companies is almost impossible for the layperson to unravel. All that seems to be apparent is that the smell is not a pleasant one. Its the underside to institutional religion, money, and the hardball politics that is attracted to “god’s work”; and fortunate that this blessed mess has not given rise to more communists and atheists, theists and fed-up-ists than there actually are. Who really controls who? It seems a lot about taxes and much less about scripture, repairing this world, being a light unto this world, and for some the impatient waiting for the messiah in the end of days; for others its revenue per square foot and the nation state as real estate project…

Like Lenny Bruce’s old skit Religion Inc. that landed him in the clink: ( see link at end) …One diplomatic official said that while significant progress may indeed have occurred; there was still a long way to go in dealing with issues that have bedeviled the sides for years. The official said Palestinian concern that the Vatican was on the verge of implicitly recognizing Israel’s control over east Jerusalem by reaching an agreement with Israel over church properties there was “ridiculous.” “Do you really think that is going to happen,” he asked.Balestrero said in an interview released by the Vatican Tuesday that the agreement being discussed “will not speak about east Jerusalem or places in the West Bank.” Read More:http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=273657&R=R1

( see link at end) …Israel and the Vatican are struggling to end a long-running dispute over the ownership and tax status of religious sites in Israel, including a place revered as the location of Jesus’ last supper.Churches acquired large amounts of land around Jerusalem as the Ottoman empire went into decline from the early 19th century, long before Israel was founded in 1948.

Now the Vatican seeks recognition of its “historic rights” to tax exemption, and to set rules for protection of religious sites and the return of what it calls lost church property.Negotiators met this month but failed to reach a deal and the talks remain deadlocked, although the sides have agreed to meet again in February, with the next round of high-level talks scheduled for May.Though only a handful of sites are being discussed, the outcome may have an impact on future transactions, particularly in Jerusalem, where religious institutions are huge land owners.An Israeli official familiar with the talks said Israel was worried that any broad concessions would set a precedent….

Today, many official Israeli buildings sit on leased church land. But agreement on the legal status of these ancient properties has evaded governments and popes for decades.”The new state naturally inherited the obligation to respect and observe those rights created before it came into being,” said a Catholic expert on church relations with Israel, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Vatican was looking to safeguard its rights under international treaties and customs that date back before the establishment of the modern Jewish state, the jurist said.One Jerusalem building in dispute stands in a narrow alley outside the Old City walls. Its second storey is the Cenacle where Christians believe Jesus held the last supper. Jewish tradition says the floor below is the burial site of King David.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, head of the Israeli negotiating team, says the Vatican would like control of the Crusader-era building, which was a stop on Pope Benedict’s tour of Israel and the West Bank last year….

Israel wants to keep the ‘status quo’ on ownership, ensuring its sovereignty, while reaching a settlement over debts accrued over years of taxes owed to the state by the church….Israel has guaranteed the Church open worship in the Cenacle and would

sider offering it more involvement, but Ayalon said ownership was not up for discussion.

Israel reserves the right to appropriate property especially to build infrastructure for public safety, while guaranteeing it won’t harm the holy sites. The Vatican wants to prevent this.The Church wishes for safeguards against future ” ‘taking’ by the state of her property,” the Catholic expert said, as well as “the restitution of certain properties ‘taken’ in the past”. Read More:http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-and-vatican-deadlocked-in-talks-over-holy-land-sites-1.261649

 

ADDENDUM:

( see link at end) …During the 2008 Presidential campaign, a record $745,000,000 was raised for the election of Barak Obama. Where did it come from? All major candidates (including Obama and McCain) except Ron Paul were members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), but who controls the CFR? In fact, who is the real power behind politicians? Many think it’s Jews like his Israeli Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, 2008 campaign manager David Axelrod, Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geitner, Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanake, bankers like the Rothschild family, or Jewish dominated stock brokerage companies like Goldman and Sachs or the Lehman Brothers. Elsewhere on this web site I have done matrices about whether Obama might be a Muslim. But the real power behind the CFR is suspected by many to be none other the than Vatican itself. As such, I searched for two words in sequence – VATICAN RULE. I found it at its minimum ELS of -24686, and in a two column by 15 rows matrix with OBAMA. If I expanded the matrix to four columns, BARAK was there at skip -1 (from Numbers 7:13, letters 4 back to 2) touching OBAMA….

STATISTICS DISCUSSION:
It’s easy to find (high frequency, low significance) BARAK at skip -1 or +1, but the odds against finding OBAMA in a 30-letter matrix with VATICAN RULE were about 1,270 to 1 by my normal protocol using the Roffman skip formula, skip tables, and spreadsheet. As is indicated on the figure below, with VATICAN RULE at skip -24,686, the only skips that allow OBAMA to be found in a 2 column, 15 row matrix are skips -12,343, +12,343, -24,686, +24,686, -37,029 and +37,029. In this particular case, these six skips yield 7 ELS hits for OBAMA, while the quick method via my formula and standard techniques yield 8 hits in the skip range of -12,343 to -12,348. Seven hits translates to one chance in 1,451, while 8 hits equates to one chance in 1,270. Whichever number is more accurate, the matrix is clearly very significant….

POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS MATRIX This appears to be a warning that is actually worthy of being encoded, although it is not enough to prove that the Code is real. Having said that, if the Vatican does rule Barak Obama, they are employing a very clever trick, hiding behind a Muslim-appearing figurehead who is surrounded by Jewish advisors. Of course, should the economic policies of those Jewish advisors fail, they could potentially serve as a stimulus for anti-Semitism. One thing is certain, this pope is no friend of the Jews. If you ask about why the President does not support the Vatican on the issue of abortion, my response would be to ask another question – Does a Church that appoints a (former) Nazi as its leader, and which permits so many homosexual, pedophile priests to serve, really care about moral issues, or does it only care about money and power? Read More:http://www.arkcode.com/custom3_59.html

…A much fairer account of her life as a Catholic was given in the Washington Post on the same day. I have experience with the ADL and from what I saw, when I needed help as a Jew, like many ultraliberal Jewish organizations, they were ready to defend everybody except Jews. So what’s the truth about this Pope? At the risk of being called a Jackass, I’ll repeat what I wrote about him in 2008.

Many Catholics gave their lives during World War II to save Jews. Pope Benedict XVI was not among them. Rather, he wore the Swastika. In a Church with a billion members, it is amazing to find that they could not find anyone with clean hands to lead the flock. Recently this Pope has asked the Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem to actually alter its text about the lack of action by Pope Pius XII when it came time to speak up and save Jews. On October 20, 2008, an article appeared in HaAretz mentioning that an Israeli Kadima party web site was asked to remove a photo of the Pope with a swastica. In America, it is considered racist to mention the middle name of Barack Hussein Obama. What purpose is served in rewriting history? Those who do not know the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them.Read More:http://www.arkcode.com/whats_new_24.html

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Palestinian political factions on Sunday condemned a draft economic agreement between Israel and the Vatican, saying it entails the Holy See recognizing Israeli legislation in East Jerusalem and occupied Palestinian territory. The document outlining an agreement between Israel and the Vatican on legal and fiscal issues has been circulating in different circles, the PLO said in a statement….

…By failing to distinguish between Israel and annexed East Jerusalem and Palestinian territory under occupation, the text would see the Vatican indirectly recognize Israel’s “exercise of powers and authorities in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the PLO said.

The Bilateral Permanent Working Commission of Israel and the Vatican will meet on Monday and Tuesday in Rome on the draft, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.”We trust that the Holy See will clarify the situation and affirm that it will uphold its legal and moral responsibility as a High Contracting Party to the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Fatah official Nabil Shaath said in a statement.

Kayed al-Ghoul, a member of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that if the draft is signed it would represent a serious shift in the Vatican’s position towards the Palestinians. Read More:http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2012/06/12/parties_say_israelvatican_accord_accepts_occupation

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After a four-year negotiation period, the Greek Patriarchate sold property in the heart of Jerusalem to the Azorim Company and to entrepreneur Benny Nehemia, on which they together built a prestigious residential project….

After negotiations that lasted for four years, property under the ownership of the Greek Patriarchate was sold to Jewish buyers for $10 million. The deal was carried out through a British company (which re-sold the land to the Jewish buyers). The buyers are the Azorim Company and entrepreneur Benny Nehemia, who had leased the site until now and built the prestigious King David Residence on it. There are 88 luxury apartments in the project, of which 50% are already sold and populated, including a penthouse sold for $7 million.

According to Attorney Arieh Abramson representing the purchasers, the Patriarchate used to extend its leasing periods but avoided transfer of land ownership to Jews. “Even after the current agreement was reached between the sides, the Patriarchate sold the land to a British company, which sold it to Jewish entrepreneurs.” The site, consisting of 1.5 dunams (.38 acres), is situated on King David Street in Jerusalem, close to the planned Waldorf Astoria hotel. The site is also near the David Citadel and King David hotels, the Mamilla shopping boulevard and the walls of the Old City. After finalization of the acquisition, the value of the King David Residence apartments is expected to rise by at least 20%.

The Patriarchate owns numerous plots of land in the country, most of them in Jerusalem. It is considered the largest land owner among the Christian churches in Israel. According to Attorney Abramson, “the Patriarchate owns many large plots of land in Jerusalem, such as the property of the Israel Museum, the Knesset building, the President’s Residence and the Mapu and Keren HaYesod streets.” Attorney Allon Diskin, manager of the real-estate department in the office of Gideon Koren & Co., says that “if [the sale] represents a change in policy and not a one-time event, then this sale of church lands to private owners is an exceptional and dramatic occurrence.” Diskin claims that it is rare for church lands to be transferred to Jewish ownership, and such sales generally must receive authorization from the highest echelons of the church and even the Vatican. “The church policy [until now] was not to transfer ownership of its lands in Israel, but only to grant leases for limited time periods.” Read More:http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2012/05/greek-patriarchate-sold-land-in.html