The irruption of Israeli police officers into Éléona, a site managed by France in Jerusalem, caused a heated diplomatic incident on Thursday during a visit by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot. Two French gendarmes were arrested and then released. France has announced that it will summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris.
France will summon “in the coming days” the Israeli ambassador in Paris to protest against the entry of the Israeli police “armed” and “without authorization” into a French national property in Jerusalem, the Eléona, which the head of French diplomacy was preparing to visit on Thursday November 7.
Jean-Noël Barrot denounced an “unacceptable situation” and refused to enter Éléona, a pilgrimage site belonging to the French national domain in the Holy Land, while the Israeli police arrested two French gendarmes on the spot, noted a journalist of the AFP.
“I am not going to enter (…) today, because the Israeli security forces entered there in an armed manner, without first obtaining authorization from France and without agreeing to leave,” he said. -he affirmed in front of the press.
“This attack on the integrity of an area placed under the responsibility of France is likely to weaken the links that I had come to cultivate with Israel, at a time when we all need to advance the region on the path to peace,” he stressed.
“The integrity of the four areas for which France is responsible here in Jerusalem must be respected,” he insisted.
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