Assignment: The struggle for Jerusalem’s Old City

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why Armenians in Jerusalem say they are fighting an existential battle. Is the identity of the Old City of Jerusalem changing - house by house? This small patch of land is of vital importance to Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. But, amid accusations of dodgy deals, corruption and trickery, there are concerns that the Old City’s historic multi-ethnic and multi-religious identity is being altered. In the Armenian Quarter a battle is going on for the control of land which the local community says is essential to its well-being and even its survival. Emily Wither visits one of the most contested cities in the world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for choosing to listen to assignment on the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:05.7	A few years ago, I was a correspondent based in Jerusalem, and I've been coming back ever since.
0:11.3	In this program, I'm focused on Jerusalem's old city, where one community
0:16.0	says it's facing an existential crisis after a controversial land sale in the Armenian
0:21.5	quarter. There are allegations of dodgy deals, violence and corruption.
0:26.2	This is what me and my producer John Murphy found.
0:32.4	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. It's early Sunday morning and the
0:38.2	Manugian family are running late for church.
0:40.9	Hello. Hello.
0:43.0	Hi.
0:44.0	I'm Emily.
0:45.0	I'm Nara.
0:46.0	Nara.
0:47.0	Very nice to meet you.
0:48.0	Yeah, nice to meet you.
0:49.0	And who's this?
0:51.0	This is my daughter, Laurie. Hi Lori, how old are you? 10.
0:55.0	10.
0:56.0	We're in the southwest corner of the old city of Jerusalem, in a car park, right next to the
1:01.0	ramparts of the old city walls.
1:03.0	And I can see that you're holding two plastic cars here.
1:07.0	You brought a London cab especially to our meeting.
	...

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