French minister cancels visit to holy site after Israeli police arrest gendarmes | France

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has abandoned a visit to a holy site in French-controlled Jerusalem after armed Israeli police entered the site and briefly arrested two French gendarmes.

France has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident, the latest of several controversies involving the Eleona shrine on the Mount of Olives, which along with three other sites make up the French national domain in the Holy Land.

The locations have previously been the focus of diplomatic incidents. The national domain was attributed to France before Israel’s establishment in 1948 and is administered as a private property by the French Consulate in Jerusalem.

According to an AFP journalist who witnessed the incident, Israeli police entered the scene and surrounded the two French gendarmes before pushing one of them to the ground.

The gendarme identified himself and shouted “Don’t touch me” several times, according to the reporter. Both gendarmes were then ushered into police cars before being later released.

It remained unclear why Israeli police had entered the scene.

“I will not enter the Eleona domain today because Israeli security forces entered with weapons, without prior French permission, without agreeing to leave today,” the French foreign minister said at the scene, describing the situation as “unacceptable” .

“This violation of the integrity of a domain placed in the custody of France is apt to weaken the ties that I came here to cultivate with Israel, at a time when we all need to help the region to move forward on the road to peace.” Barrot said.

“Eleona has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but France also ensures its security,” it maintains.

“The integrity of the four sites for which France is responsible here in Jerusalem must be respected,” he added.

Eleona, which includes a Benedictine monastery, is located on the Mount of Olives in occupied East Jerusalem and is connected to the so-called Pater Cave, where Christ is said to have taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.

In an earlier incident in January 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron reprimanded an Israeli police officer in front of the Sainte-Anne Basilica during a crush of people, saying: “I don’t like what you did in front of me.”

In 1996, President Jacques Chirac told Israeli soldiers who surrounded him too closely: “Do you want me to go back to my plane?” demands that the soldiers leave the Place Sainte-Anne.