It was around 4:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, November 7, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, visiting Israelthen in the occupied West Bank, is preparing to enter the national domain of Eléona, also called Pater Noster, on the Mount of Olives. He notes that three Israeli police officers are inside, on territory that has belonged to France for 150 years, east of Jerusalem, in the annexed part of the city. He stops in front of the door. “I am not going to enter because the Israeli security forces entered without first obtaining authorization from France, he declares. This situation is unacceptable.“
Inside, three armed Israeli police officers face two French gendarmes who ask them to leave. The Israeli police refused and arrested them in front of journalists' microphones and cameras. “Don't talk to me or touch me“, said one of the gendarmes. “If you don't come, we'll arrest you“, replies an Israeli police officer. “Are you sure you want to arrest French soldiers?“, continues the gendarme.
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The French gendarmes will be released 20 minutes later. Father Laurent witnessed the scene. He is rector of the Church of Sainte-Anne, another French estate in Jerusalem. “The convention is that they do not enter. The protection service for Israeli personalities wants to supplement the French protection servicehe explains. And so Israel insists on meaning that it is at home everywhere on this territory“The Israeli authorities deny having been at the origin of the diplomatic incident and assure that security questions had been clarified before the visit.
Israeli ambassador summoned by France
The Quai d'Orsay condemns these actions in a press release, and assures that the Israeli ambassador to France will be summoned in the coming days. A diplomatic source confided Thursday evening that she expected explanations and even an apology from Israel, and that the incident could, otherwise, go much further.
This is not the first time that the French authorities have clashed with the Israeli police during a diplomatic visit to these areas in the Holy Land. In 2020, Emmanuel Macron raised his voice. It was in front of St. Anne's Church, in the old city of Jerusalem. Jacques Chirac, in 1996, also got angry: “What do you want ? Me to go back in my plane. This is not a method. This is provocation” (What do you want? That I return to my plane? It's not a method, it's provocation).
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For 150 years, French sovereignty has been exercised over four national domains. A legacy of the privileged relations at the time with the Ottoman Empire and local aristocrats. A heritage that Paris intends to defend.
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