Consulate General of France, Jerusalem

Consulate General of France, Jerusalem
View from the Consulate General of the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem
Map
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeConsulate
Address5, rue, Paul Emile Botta St, Jerusalem
Inaugurated1623

The Consulate General of France in Jerusalem (French: Consulat Général de France à Jérusalem) is the diplomatic mission of France in Jerusalem. It officially serves to the Palestinians and maintains contact with the government of Palestine. The consulate is located nearby the Old City of Jerusalem, on Paul Emile Botta Street, named after French archaeologist Paul-Émile Botta

It began its tumultuous history in the early 17th century. In 1535, the date of the first Capitulation between France and the Ottoman Empire, France was granted the right to appoint consuls in the cities of the Empire.[1] The Capitulations constituted the legal basis of the French protectorate over the Holy Places, Catholic Christians, and by extension, Orthodox Christians. In 1623, King Louis XIII appointed the first consul in Jerusalem "for the Glory of God and to relieve the pious pilgrims who by devotion visit the Holy Places."[2] The presence of consuls in Jerusalem was intermittent until 1843. Amidst the growing competition between European powers over the exclusive protectorate that France was entitled to exercise over Christians, the rank of the Consul in Jerusalem was raised to that of a Consul General in 1893.[3]

Despite the abolition of France's protectorate over the Latins and the Turkish-ruled Holy Places in 1914, the Consulate General tried to maintain and expand its influence in Palestine.[4] Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem has held the status of a quasi-embassy. The consulate is responsible for the area of the corpus separatum and Judée-Samarie . The consulate's districts include Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Consulate General is independent from the Embassy of France in Tel Aviv and does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel.[5] All contacts with the State of Israel lie exclusively within the jurisdiction of the embassy in Tel Aviv. Since its establishment in 1994, the consulate has been the French diplomatic representative to the Palestinian National Authority.[6]

  1. ^ Hershlag Zvi Yehuda. Introduction to the modern economic history of the Middle-East. E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands (1980)
  2. ^ "Consulate General of France in Jérusalem". Archived from the original on 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  3. ^ D'Alonzo, Alphonse (1901). La Russie en Palestine. Boyer.(1901)
  4. ^ Nicault, Catherine (1999). "The End of the French Religious Protectorate in Jerusalem (1918-1924)". Bulletin du Centre Français de Jérusalem. Archived from the original on July 24, 2009.
  5. ^ Danino, Olivier. "La France et la question de Jérusalem, 3 avril 1949 - 7 juin 1967". Relations Internationales 2. (2002)
  6. ^ Mochon, Jean Pierre (1996). "Le Consulat General de France a Jerusalem : Aspects historiques, juridiques et politiques de ses fonctions". Annuaire Français de Droit International. 42: 929–945. doi:10.3406/afdi.1996.3421., (1996), p.943