The visit to Jerusalem by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot was marked Thursday by a diplomatic incident when Israeli police entered “armed” and “without authorization,” according to the minister, into the Eléona, a site belonging to France. In the process, Paris indicated that it was summoning the Israeli ambassador to Paris.
What happened?
The incident occurred on Thursday, when a visit by the head of French diplomacy was planned to this French national domain. According to Jean-Noël Barrot, who denounced “an unacceptable situation”, the Israeli security forces entered the Eléona “armed, without first obtaining authorization from France and without agreeing to leave”.
Two French gendarmes were also arrested. During virulent exchanges, Israeli police surrounded the two French officers, grabbing one of them and putting him on the ground before putting him in a police car. The official, who had identified himself, yelled several times, “Don’t touch me!” “.
The two gendarmes were later released and it was not specified why the Israeli police entered the site.
How did France react?
“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,” denounced Jean-Noël Barrot to the press, refusing to go to the site.
“The Israeli ambassador to France will be summoned to the ministry in the coming days,” the French Foreign Ministry later said, adding that the presence of Israeli security forces at the pilgrimage site as well as the brief arrest of two French gendarmes were “not acceptable”. “France condemns them with all the more vigor as they intervene in a context where it is doing everything possible to work towards the de-escalation of violence in the region,” the press release added.
This incident comes as relations between Tel Aviv and Paris have become significantly strained in recent weeks, after statements by President Emmanuel Macron calling for an end to sales of arms used in Gaza or accusing Israel of “sowing barbarity”.
Why does this place have a special status?
The Eleona, within which there is a Benedictine monastery, is located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.
Built on the so-called Pater cave, where Christ is said to have taught the Pater to his disciples, it is one of the four French national domains of Jerusalem, with the Tomb of the Kings, the Basilica of Saint Anne and the former crusader commandery of Abu Gosh, which France has.
“The Eléona estate (…) is an estate which has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but whose security and maintenance France ensures with enormous care,” said the minister. “The integrity of the four areas for which France is responsible here in Jerusalem must be respected,” he insisted.
