Israeli forces clash with activists at Jerusalem march
ISRAELI and international activists and journalists were assaulted by Israeli security forces during Wednesday’s Jerusalem Day Flag March as Israelis celebrated the 50th anniversary of the “unification” of Jerusalem – a unification not recognised by the international community.
As part of Jerusalem Day every year, thousands of right-wing Israelis take part in the Flag March, marching through the Old City of Jerusalem and through parts of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.
Fifty international activists from the If Not Now organisation joined Israeli activists in forming a human chain near Damascus Gate in the Old City.
They sat on the ground, arms interlinked in an act of civil disobedience, protesting the march and calling for “an end to hatred, violence and for the promotion of a peaceful settlement for all the city’s residents”. They were forcibly dragged away by the police with some sustaining injuries, while journalists trying to cover the event were also manhandled by the police and paramilitary border-police which drove them away.
During the march three Palestinian security guards were also reportedly assaulted by Israeli security forces in the compound of Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, as clashes broke out between the guards and Jewish extremists who were touring the mosque. The guards required medical treatment.
In previous years, the Israeli police prevented the marchers from going through Muslim parts of the Old City, and through Palestinian East Jerusalem, due to the provocative behaviour of the marchers which has included shouting “death to Arabs” and vandalising the property of Palestinian shopkeepers.
However, this year with Israel’s most right-wing government in power since the establishment of the state in 1948, the march route was given the go-ahead despite a petition submitted earlier to the Israeli High Court of Justice by the left-wing Israeli activist group Ir Amim, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The group argued that the police’s decision to allow the Flag March to go through a predominantly Arab part of the city was “bizarre”.
Nevertheless, the high court allowed the march to proceed, forcing Palestinian shopkeepers to close their stores and preventing many other Palestinians from going about their daily business as the police closed off the streets to protect the marchers. ANA and Ma’an