Israeli police entered “armed” and “without authorization”, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on a site belonging to France in Jerusalem.
Jean-Noël Barrot denounced an “unacceptable” situation and refused to enter the Eleona grounds, on the Mount of Olives.
France will summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris, according to the Quai d’Orsay.
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Middle East: fear of widespread conflict
Two French gendarmes handcuffed by Israeli police. The visit, Thursday, November 7 to Jerusalem, of Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was marked by a diplomatic incident. In question: the entrance “without permission” et “army” on a site belonging to France of the Israeli police, according to the minister. The Quai d’Orsay announced its intention to summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris in the coming days.
The scene took place in Eléona, a pilgrimage site. The latter is located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967. This is where Jean-Noël Barrot wanted to go this Thursday. Before turning around. “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 told the press.
“Don’t touch me!”
“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 of peace”, he pointed out.
During virulent exchanges, Israeli police surrounded two French gendarmes, grabbing one of them by force and putting him on the ground before loading him into a police car. The official, who had identified himself, yelled several times “Don’t touch me!“, according to an AFP journalist present on site. The sequence was also filmed, before being published on X. The two gendarmes were then released and it was not specified why the police Israelis had entered the site.
Eléona is a place on the heights of the Mount of Olives, within which there is a Benedictine monastery. 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 near Jerusalem, with the Tomb of the Kings, the Basilica of Sainte-Anne and the former crusader commandery of Abu Gosh with their Romanesque churches.
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“The Eléona estate (…) is an estate which has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but which France ensures the security, maintenance and 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.
The Quai d’Orsay announced early in the evening that France will summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris. “These actions are not acceptable. France condemns them with all the more force as they take place in a context where it is doing everything possible to work towards the de-escalation of violence in the region.“, specified the ministry in a press release early in the evening. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured in a press release that “the procedures were clarified in advance during preparatory discussions with the French Embassy in Israel.”
