Delightful vertigo of improvisation. Smiling, without hurrying, Emmanuel Macron strolled through the old city of East Jerusalem on Wednesday, January 22. Where each stone is a litigation, where each wall says a conflict, where laughter penetrates so little because everyone lives in the shadow of a god, the French president decided to pay tribute to the three monotheisms. In its own way: by its own will, by shaking up the protocol, by playing with the effect of surprise and image. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, then the esplanade of the Mosques, and finally the Wailing Wall. So many sites not provided for in the program. “In this small place, so many great spurts! " noted the head of state. The message was walking in itself, spiritual roaming, each step of which was a postcard for history. The same stages as those traveled by Jacques Chirac, in October 1996.
Emmanuel Macron could have let the place speak, be content with a few questions to his successive guides. Christians, Muslims and Jews, they opened to him, each in turn, the book of their history. But the president also appreciated the crowd, his hands outstretched, the arrests, sometimes stopping in front of the microphones. " President ! "," Yellow vests! "," Justice for Sarah Halimi! " or " Go Om ! ", shouted some French-speaking Jewish believers, at the foot of the Wall, where so many murmured or mute prayers are addressed, on an ordinary day.
"I wanted to walk freely", explained the president, who greeted many traders and visitors before discovering the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian quarter, accompanied by religious representatives. The tourists, dumbfounded to meet him, were also annoyed at not being able to freely access the place. "It's a real mousetrap here! ", lamented a security officer at the Elysee Palace, flabbergasted by so much improvisation. The Israeli police, the mistress of this old city conquered in 1967, was ready to hurry, in these so sensitive alleys where no overflow is tolerated.
Tuesday night, on the plane, Emmanuel Macron confirmed to his entourage that he wished to survey the old city. It was midday Wednesday, when he was going to his meeting with Benny Gantz, the leader of Bleu et Blanc (opposition), that the logistical details were fixed, said an adviser. A challenge. Israelis do not like the visits of foreign dignitaries to the esplanade of the Mosques. As for coordination with the Waqf, the pious Jordanian foundation which manages the third holiest site in Islam, it generally requires sustained contact. But what are habits worth, when you can jostle them with a light step? Israeli police explain to World that the walk was "Planned in advance", without detailing. Their officers had to adapt constantly, with some restraint.
