This is a new diplomatic incident between France and Israel. Israeli police officers entered the Eléona, a holy site and French national domain in Jerusalem, “armed” and “without authorization”, according to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, reports Le Figaro.
“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,” the minister told the press. The latter did not specify the reason for the arrival of Israeli police officers at Eléona, located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem (Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967).
“Unacceptable situation”. Jean-Noël Barrot denounced an “unacceptable situation”, ultimately refusing to enter the pilgrimage site. After the minister's departure, a second incident involved Israeli police officers in uniform and two French gendarmes in civilian clothes. A tense exchange followed: the Israeli police officers threw one of the gendarmes to the ground before taking him into a police car.
Subsequently, the two gendarmes were eventually released. An Israeli police official explained to them that they were not in uniform and that they had not shown their professional card. In a statement, the Israeli police indicated that “two individuals, initially unidentified” had “refused entry to the site to Israeli agents responsible for the minister's security”. “They know that we work at the French consulate general,” retorted one of the two consular agents.
The Quai d'Orsay indicated that the Israeli ambassador in Paris will be summoned “in the coming days” to take stock of the incident. “The Eléona estate (…) is an estate which has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but whose security France ensures,” Jean-Noël Barrot recalled.
