France-Israel diplomatic incident: why does France have 4 sites in Jerusalem?

When diplomatic incident rhymes with historical place. The Eléona, a French property located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, was the scene of a heated altercation on Thursday, November 7. Israeli police officers seized a French gendarme, on the sidelines of Minister Jean-Noël Barrot's visit. The latter was thrown to the ground, before being taken away in a police car. In addition to the geopolitical context, marked by strong tensions between France and Israel for several months, the tension observed within Eléona can also be explained by the atypical status of this place.

France is the only foreign power to have four sites in Israel and East Jerusalem. These “national domains” are all the result of a long historical heritage, each having been acquired for various reasons over the centuries.

The Eleona

Built on the so-called “Pater” cave, where Christ, according to Christian tradition, would have taught the prayer of the “Our Father” (“Pater noster”, in Latin) to his disciples, the Eléona is a place with a rich history . A basilica, now in ruins, was built there by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century. Long prohibited from access to Christians, the estate was bought in 1856 by Aurélie de la Tour d'Auvergne who had a cloister built there above the cave by Viollet-le-Duc. She donated it to France in 1874. Carmelites have lived there since 1873 under French diplomatic protection. Enjoying an exceptional view of the Old City, the estate is located on the Mount of Olives and therefore in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.

The Tomb of the Kings

Better known to the general public, the Tomb of the Kings has long been wrongly considered the tomb of the kings of Judea. This place more likely corresponds to the mausoleum of Helen of Adiabene, a Jewish queen of the 1st century buried with around thirty notables. The underground site, also located in the disputed area of ​​East Jerusalem, is accessible by a monumental staircase carved into the stone which descends to a vast cave where there are several sarcophagi, some of which were transported to the Louvre.

Just like the Eléona, the place passed under the tricolor flag in the second half of the 19th century. Excavated in 1863 by French archaeologists, the Tomb was purchased by the Péreire brothers, French Jewish bankers, who ceded it to France in 1886 for “preserve it for the knowledge and veneration of the faithful children of Israel”. Ultra-Orthodox Jews still contest this property right. They meet regularly in front of the gate to obtain the right to enter and pray at this revered site. The place reopened in 2019 after ten years of work financed by France.

Sainte-Anne church

Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, Saint Anne's Church is a stone's throw from Saint Stephen's Gate, also called Lions' Gate. The original building, in Romanesque style, was built by the crusaders in the 12th century on the presumed site of the house of the Virgin's parents (whose mother was called Anne). Transformed into a Koranic school after the fall of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187, it was offered to France in 1856 by the Ottoman sultan to thank Napoleon III for his intervention against the Russians during the Crimean War.

It has been managed since 1878 by the “White Fathers”, a community of missionary priests in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for dialogue with the Eastern Churches present in Jerusalem. In 2020, Emmanuel Macron ordered Israeli police officers to leave the area after they attacked French law enforcement officers.

• Read also

  VIDEO – “Keep calm!” : Emmanuel Macron's angry outburst against the Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

The most famous incident remains that of 1996, when Jacques Chirac lost his temper against Israeli soldiers who were surrounding him too closely, before demanding their expulsion from the area.

Abu Gosh Monastery

Located about ten kilometers west of Jerusalem in an Israeli Muslim village, the Abu Gosh monastery has been home to Benedictine monks and nuns since 1976. This former commandery was built in the 12th century by the Order of Hospitallers to the pilgrims who stopped there before going up to Jerusalem. The place was given to France by Sultan Abdulaziz in 1873 to compensate for the capture of St. George's Church in Lydda by the Orthodox Greeks.