Jerusalem incident: What is Eleona, the French estate at the center of tensions?

A visit to Jerusalem by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on November 7 was marked by a diplomatic incident after Israeli police entered the French Eleona shrine “armed” and “without authorization.”

Barrot called the situation “unacceptable” and refused to enter the shrine, while Israeli police arrested two French police officers at the site.

“The domain of Eleona (…) is not only a property that has belonged to France for over 150 years, but one that France continues to manage, provide security and care deeply for,” explained the minister.

The French police officers were later released and an Israeli police official said the two officers were not wearing uniform and did not present their professional identification cards.

The French Foreign Ministry said it would summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris “in the coming days.” Israel, in turn, denied being responsible for the incident and claimed that security issues had been “clarified” in advance with the French embassy.

The Shrine of Eleona is located on the summit of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian part of the city that was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967. It includes a church and monastery, construction of which began in the 1870s and remains unfinished to this day – and the Church of Pater Noster, which includes a grotto believed to be the place where Jesus met his disciples taught the Lord's Prayer.

A church in ruins

According to Christian tradition, Jesus often withdrew to the Pater Noster grotto with his disciples. The words are engraved in Latin above the entrance: Spelunga in qua docebat Dominus apostolos in Monte Olivetiwhich means “cave in which the Lord taught his apostles on the Mount of Olives.”

In the 4th century, a church was built on this site for the first time on the orders of the Roman Emperor Constantine I to commemorate the Ascension of Christ. It was finally destroyed by the Persians in 614.

In the 12th century, the Crusaders built a new church, partially financed by the Bishop of Denmark, who was later buried there with his steward. The Crusader Church gradually fell into disrepair and from the 14th century its stones were used to build tombs.

The site was eventually bought back by Princess Marie Louise de la Tour d'Auvergne in the late 19th century. She had a cloister built, attributed to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, to enclose the grotto. Plaques with the text of the Lord's Prayer in more than 170 languages ​​were placed on the walls.

In 1868 the princess donated part of her land to France. Two additional sections were entrusted to the Carmelite Sisters and the Missionaries of Africa, commonly known as the White Fathers.

The sanctuary is one of the four French territories in Jerusalem, along with the Church of Saint Anne, the Royal Tomb and the Benedictine Abbey of Abu Gosh.