The incident occurred during Jean-Noël Barrot’s visit to Jerusalem.Keystone
Israeli police entered a religious site belonging to France “without authorization” during Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot’s visit to Jerusalem. Paris summoned the Israeli ambassador.
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A new diplomatic incident between France and Israel marred the visit to Jerusalem of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Thursday. Israeli police officers entered “armed” and “without authorization”, according to him, on a religious site belonging to France.
“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 to the press.
He did not specify why the Israeli police had entered the grounds of the Eléona national domain, next to which is a Carmelite convent (also under French diplomatic protection), located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. , Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.
Denouncing an “unacceptable situation”, the minister finally decided not to enter this pilgrimage site.
Built on the grotto known as “du Pater”, where Christ, according to tradition, taught the Our Father (Pater noster, in Latin) to his disciples, it is one of the four French national domains in and near Jerusalem, with the Tomb of the kings, the basilica of Sainte-Anne and the old crusader commandery of Abu Gosh with their Romanesque churches.
“The Eléona estate is an area which has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but whose security France ensures”
Jean-Noel Barrot
The Israeli ambassador in Paris will be summoned “in the coming days” to discuss this incident, announced the Quai d’Orsay.
Police arrested
Just after the minister’s departure, a new incident involved Israeli police officers in uniform and two French gendarmes in civilian clothes.
During a very tense exchange, Israeli police officers grabbed one of them, throwing him to the ground before taking him into a police car. The gendarme, who had identified himself, yelled several times, “Don’t touch me!”
The two gendarmes were then released and a police official explained to them that they were not in uniform and that they had not shown their professional card.
“They know that we work at the French consulate general,” replied one of the two consulate agents, pointing to the police officers who had arrested him.
Israeli police said in a statement that “two initially unidentified individuals” had “refused entry to the site to Israeli agents responsible for the minister’s security.” (ats)
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