Israel’s ‘Flag March’ in Jerusalem rattles Palestinians
Tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s walled Old City under heavy security on Thursday in an annual event that drew condemnation from Palestinians.
The parade is the main celebration on Jerusalem Day, when Israel marks its capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The event has become a show of force for Jewish nationalists and, for Palestinians, a blatant provocation meant to undermine their ties to the city.
Despite fears the event could spark a renewed violence following days of cross-border fire with Palestinian militant fighters in Gaza last week, the march ended with no major security incidents.
During the afternoon, rowdy crowds of Jewish youth danced and chanted, and there were heated confrontations, with shouts of “Death to Arabs” and other slogans. A number of journalists covering the event were attacked by marchers.
As the march ended in a mass gathering in front of the Western Wall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the march to go ahead despite security concerns. “Jerusalem will stay united forever,” he said.
Around 2,500 officers were assigned to the march to keep it peaceful, according to police who prepared for all scenarios, including violence and anti-Arab chants by some marchers toward Palestinians.
As crowds gathered at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City during the afternoon at the start of the march, a handful of flags belonging to Lehava, a far-right anti-Arab group, could be seen among the mass of blue and white Israeli national flags.
Many Palestinian shopkeers shuttered their businesses in the Old City, where march organisers hung Israeli flags along the narrow alleyways.
Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of Jewish pilgrims, including members of parliament, toured the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City. The site, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, is the third holiest in Islam and also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, a vestige of their faith’s two ancient temples.
The visits passed without incident, but Palestinians have been angered by the rising number of Jewish visitors to the compound, some of whom defy a ban on non-Muslim prayer there.
Jordan, which has a custodial role over the Muslim and Christian holy sites of Jerusalem, condemned the visits as a provocation that risked escalating tensions.
