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

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

“The domain of Eleona (…) is not only a property that has belonged to France for over 150 years, but one that France continues to maintain, ensures security for, and takes great care of,” the minister stated.

The French policemen were later released, and an Israeli police official said that the two officers had not been in uniform and had not shown their professional identification.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that it would summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris “in the coming days.” Israel, for its part, denied being responsible for the incident, asserting that security matters had been “clarified” in advance with the French embassy.

The Sanctuary of the Eleona is situated at the top of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967. It includes a church, a cloistered monastery—which began construction in the 1870s and remains unfinished—and the Church of the Pater Noster, which includes a grotto believed to be the place where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.

A church in ruins

According to Christian tradition, Jesus frequently withdrew to the Pater Noster grotto with his disciples. Inscribed in Latin above the entrance are the words: Spelunga in qua docebat Dominus apostolos in Monte Oliveti, meaning “Cave in which the Lord taught his apostles on the Mount of Olives.”

A church was first built on the site in the 4th century under the orders of Roman Emperor Constantine I to commemorate Christ’s Ascension. It was eventually 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 ruins, and from the 14th century, its stones were used for tomb construction.

The site was ultimately repurchased in the late 19th century by Princess Marie Louise de la Tour d’Auvergne. She commissioned a cloister attributed to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc to enclose the grotto. Plaques displaying the text of the Lord’s Prayer in more than 170 languages were installed on the walls.

In 1868, the princess donated part of her land to France. Two other 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 Tomb of the Kings, and the Benedictine Abbey of Abu Gosh.