Macron steps into Jerusalem's symbolism, but no peace push

PARIS - Emmanuel Macron began a visit to Jerusalem on Wednesday aiming to avoid the controversies of past presidents, while underscoring Paris' historical influence in the region.

The two-day visit includes political meetings to discuss Iran tensions and the peace process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of opposition Benny Gantz, with Israel just weeks away from an election on March 2. Macron will also meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Macron said on Wednesday that France will be inflexible about Iran's nuclear ambitions and that his country is determined Tehran will never acquire nuclear weapons.

"In the current context, France is determined that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, but also that we avoid all military escalation in the region," Macron said.

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader urged Macron to put pressure on Iran over what he called its aggression in the region.

France, along with Britain and Germany, declared Iran in violation of the 2015 nuclear pact last week and they launched a dispute mechanism that could see the matter referred back to the Security Council and the reimposition of UN sanctions.

The nuclear dispute has been at the heart of an escalation between Washington and Tehran which blew up into military confrontation in recent weeks.

Macron's visit culminates in commemorations marking the 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp. In a message to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, which will host the high-profile event, Macron rallied against anti-Semitism, saying it "haunts our present time". He spoke of "citizens of France and elsewhere (who) are targeted because they are Jewish."

Combatting anti-Semitism is a key theme of Thursday's World Holocaust Forum, to be attended by dignitaries from more than 40 countries, which will remember more than one million Jews killed at Auschwitz during World War II.

"This fight against anti-Semitism, I lead it every day by tackling it in speeches, in behaviour, on the internet," said Macron.

He invited digital platforms and public authorities, as well as civil society and individuals, to intervene "to eliminate hateful content".

"Saying nothing, turning away, is making yourself an accomplice," he added. He also said anti-Zionism and the denial of Israel’s "right to exist" was a form of modern anti-Semitism.

"That doesn’t mean we cannot disagree concerning government policies," Macron said, "but the denial of the State of Israel is a contemporary form of anti-Semitism."

The Israeli government has been accused of using the charge of anti-Semitism to silence human rights activists critical of Israeli policies towards indigenous Palestinians.

Zionism is a nationalist movement that shares ideological roots with the European nationalist movements of the 19th century. It espoused the establishment of a "Jewish state" in historic Palestine, the believed site of the biblical Land of Israel.

The movement called for migration to the Holy Land, with the arrival of European Jews to Palestine rising steeply in the 1940s as the Nazis perpetrated genocide against their community.

Palestinians, however, see Zionism as a settler-colonial project. Armed Zionist militias were a key feature of the 1948 war that established the state of Israel through the ethnic cleansing of almost 700,000 Muslim and Christian Palestinians.

Status quo

For the 42-year-old Macron, the visit is also an opportunity to follow in the steps of previous French leaders in visiting one of the four sites owned by France since the Ottoman era of the 19th century and which to this day remain in its hands through international treaties.

"Be it schools, hospitals, orphanages, or religious sites like this, we continue to defend French identity," said a French diplomatic source ahead of the visit. "We are a step away here from Temple Mount and the Wailing Wail, the very heart of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, so symbolically we are."

Arriving through the Old City's Lion gate in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, Macron paid a visit to the Church of St. Anne, where the French tricolour has fluttered since the Ottoman Empire gave it to Emperor Napoleon III in 1856 as thanks for his support during the Crimean War.

Before heading to the church, he walked through through the Old City, speaking to shopkeepers and stopping by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He later visited the Haram al-Sharif that houses the iconic Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque. He also prayed at the Western Wall, touching the ancient stones.

French diplomats cautioned that they wanted to leave little room for mishaps such as those seen in the past. Israeli officials have privately expressed disappointment that the French leader had not visited the country earlier in his presidency.

Nevertheless, a squabble broke out between Israeli police and French security officers when Israeli officers tried to enter St. Anne ahead of Macron's visit. They were rebuffed by French officials who told them it was French property and a shouting match ensued.

Video spread on social media later showed Macron shouting "go outside" in a melee with Israeli security men, demanding they leave the Jerusalem basilica that he visited before the Holocaust memorial conference.

France views it as a provocation when Israeli police enter the church's sandstone complex, in a part of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. That move was never recognised by the international community, which views East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.

In the video, Macron can be heard asking the Israelis to "please respect the rules, as we have for centuries" in reference to France's historic ownership of religious heritage sites in Jerusalem including the Church of St. Anne and the Tomb of the Kings.

Speaking later to reporters, Macron said the incident ended pleasantly and that he shook hands with the Israeli security officials.

An Israeli police spokesman declined to comment on the incident. An Israeli government spokesman did not immediately comment on behalf of the Shin Bet internal security agency, which also helps guard foreign dignitaries.

The incident was a moment of deja vu, recalling a visit by former French President Jacques Chirac to Jerusalem's occupied Old City in 1996. 

Chirac lost patience with the Israeli security agents who were pressing him to move on as he was greeting a crowd of Palestinians. Chirac told the Israelis that their behaviour was a "provocation" and threatened to get back on his plane. He refused to enter St. Anne until Israeli security left the site.

Macron last week played down any real prospect of renewing French efforts to push the peace process, stalled since 2014, saying it was not for him to dictate to either side.

"I am not going to come saying 'this is a peace plan' because it would only fail," he told reporters on Jan. 15. "I'm going to speak to the actors, see what the conditions are. France always has a role to play and I don't think we're absent from the debates in the region."

The Palestinians are boycotting a peace initiative by US President Donald Trump, and Netanyahu has repeated pledges to annex Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

At a campaign rally for his right-wing Likud party on Tuesday, Netanyahu, who is seeking re-election, renewed a promise to "impose Israeli sovereignty on the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea".

France believes a two-state solution is the only viable option to end the conflict but Macron has ruled out recognizing an independent Palestinian state, saying it would not serve peace efforts.