During the visit to Jerusalem of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Thursday, November 7, armed Israeli police officers were entered “without authorization” on the religious site of Eleona to arrest two French gendarmes. Following this incident, the minister refused to enter the site and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the Israeli ambassador would be summoned “in the coming days” to discuss the subject.
The Church of Eleona, also called the Church of the Pater Noster is located on the heights of the Mount of Olivesat the place where, according to the scriptures, Jesus taught his disciples the prayer of the Lord. In 1856, Princess Aurélie de la Tour d’Auvergne, becomes the owner of the land where the basilica is located, then in ruins. She decided two years later to build a cloister there and undertook numerous excavations.
In 1868, she donated the site to France. Still owned by the French Republic today, this site which attracts many pilgrims is administered by the French consulate in Jerusalem. According to the ministry, Israeli police officers should therefore not not be able to enter the site armed without prior authorization from the French consulate.
The Israeli authorities, for their part, assured that “security” questions for the minister’s visit had been “clarified” with the consulate and specifies that this intervention had the “objective of guaranteeing the safety” of Jean-Noël Barrot.
Other French national domains
The church of Eleona is not the only site in the Holy Land to enjoy this somewhat special status. Three other possessions are managed by the consulate. Lth tomb of the Kings where there are several Jewish tombs including that of Helen of Adiabene, a Jewish queen from the 1st century was acquired by the Pereire family in 1878, this site was then offered to France eight years later.
The Church of Saint Anne, located in East Jerusalem, was built by the crusaders in the 12th century on the spot where Anne, Mary’s mother, lived. It was ceded to France as a gift from Sultan Abdülmecid I. It was this site administered by the White Fathers that Jacques Chirac refused to enter during his visit in 1996. He demanded to first see the armed Israeli soldiers leave the site before entering it himself.
Abu Gosh Abbey is also a French domain. At this site, west of Jerusalem the crusaders first built a church in the 12th century. Entrusted to France by the Ottoman Empire in 1873, the church became a monastery in 1900.
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