Israelis to march through Muslim part of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, May 18: Tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists are expected to march through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday, in an annual event that has raised fears of violence with Palestinian factions.
The annual parade, which marks Israel’s capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 war, has increasingly become a show of force for Jewish nationalists, and for Palestinians a blatant provocation meant to undermine their ties to the city. Around 2,500 officers will safeguard the march and try to keep it peaceful, police said, having prepared for all scenarios, including violence and anti-Arab chants by some marchers toward Palestinians and rocket fire from Gaza.
Islamist group Hamas, which governs Gaza, fired rockets into Israel during 2021's march, triggering an 11-day war that killed at least 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 people in Israel. With another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza militants ending only last weekend, appetite for escalation appeared low.
Egypt, which mediated Saturday's truce, has been talking to Israeli and Palestinian factions to reduce tensions ahead of the march. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading a nationalist-religious government, said the event would go ahead as planned.
Police officers set up positions near Damascus gate, a popular gathering spot for Palestinians, where the parade will enter the old city. Organisers hung Israeli flags along the narrow, cobble stoned alleyways. For some, the march is also a religious matter. Jerusalem’s Old City is home to the AlAqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site. It is the most sacred site in Judaism, which knows it as the Temple Mount.
An Israeli police raid in the flashpoint site in April triggered fire from Gaza groups. —