French minister cancels holy site visit after Israeli police arrest gendarmes
www.theguardian.com
France summons Israeli ambassador over incident at Eleona domain in Jerusalem which is under French control

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

The sites have been the focus of diplomatic incidents in the past. The national domain was attributed to France before Israel’s creation 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 site 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 journalist. Both gendarmes were then led into police cars, before being later released.

  • cygnusEnglish
    141·
    14 days ago

    This is the first I hear about this territory being claimed by France, and there’s no mention of it on the French Wikipedia page for the Mont des Oliviers. Is there any source whatsoever to corroborate that?

      • cygnusEnglish
        31·
        13 days ago

        Ah, thanks! This is interesting:

        Selon Frédéric Encel, géopolitologue et spécialiste du conflit israélo-palestinien, « un policier ou un soldat en armes d’un autre pays n’a pas le droit d’y rentrer sans l’accord du consulat français »10, cependant selon Gérard Araud, ancien ambassadeur de France en Israël, ce domaine ne constitue pas, à la différence d’un consulat une « emprise diplomatique » aux termes notamment de la Convention de Vienne10.

        The quotes say that a police officer or soldier of a foreign country cannot enter without permission of the French consulate, but that the region does not constitute a diplomatic enclave.