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.
For a terrorist state, this is a mild incident. But maybe it will help to show that Israel is not a lawful state. Making it easier to understand that they are not acting lawfully in many other areas.
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?
I think this is the compound mentioned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Pater_Noster
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.
Sorry, we thought this was Palestine!
