The irruption of Israeli police officers into Éléona, a site managed by France in Jerusalem, caused a heated diplomatic incident on Thursday during a visit by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot. Two French gendarmes were arrested and then released. France has announced that it will summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris.
Jean-Noël Barrot denounced an “unacceptable situation” and refused to enter Éléona, a pilgrimage site belonging to the French national domain in the Holy Land, while the Israeli police arrested two French gendarmes on site, noted a journalist of the AFP.
“I'm not going in […] today, because Israeli security forces entered there in an armed manner, without first obtaining authorization from France and without agreeing to leave,” he told the press.
“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.
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!” »
The two gendarmes were later released and it was not specified why the Israeli police entered the site.
Four French national domains
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 grotto known as “du Pater”, where Christ is said to have taught the prayer of the Pater 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 Saint Anne and the the ancient crusader commandery of Abu Gosh with their Romanesque churches.
“The domain of Éléona […] is an area which not only has 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.
On January 22, 20202, the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron was also marked by a stampede in front of the Sainte-Anne basilica. The president said in English to an Israeli police officer, “I don't like what you did in front of me.”
The most famous incident remains that of 1996, when President Jacques Chirac also lost his temper against Israeli soldiers who were surrounding him too closely, saying “Do you want me to go back to my plane? » (“Do you want me to get back on board my plane?”), before demanding that the soldiers leave the Sainte-Anne area.
Source: France24 with AFP
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