Far-right march in East Jerusalem puts …

Thousands of ultra-nationalist Israelis protested in East Jerusalem on Tuesday in the so-called “March of the flags”, just weeks after a harsh Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The march is a litmus test for Israel’s new government as well as for the fragile truce reached after 11 days of hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza. Palestinians see annual march as provocation for being carried out in an area of ​​the city occupied by Israel since 1967 and they called for a “Day of Wrath” in all Palestinian territories. 17 Palestinian citizens were arrested during protests, while 33 others were injured.

Protesters, including ultra-nationalist and far-right Jewish youth and activists, left an Orthodox neighborhood in West Jerusalem to walk through East Jerusalem to the Damascus Gate, which gives access to the Muslim quarter of the Old City, where is the Esplanade de la Mosques. Screams of “Death to the Arabs” echoed through the crowd carrying flags in the colors of Israel.

Blocking

Shortly before the controversial march, police closed the main streets leading to the Old City and blocked Palestinians’ access to the plaza in front of the Damascus Gate, sparking clashes that left a dozen Palestinian protesters injured. Arab Israeli MPs rejected the appeal. “The only legitimate flag here is the Palestinian flag. The Israeli flag is a symbol of the occupation,” declared the legislator Ahmed Tibi |

The march commemorates “Yom Yerushalaim” (Jerusalem Day), the anniversary for Israelis of the “reunification” of the Holy City in 1967. Under international law, Israel illegally occupies this eastern Palestinian part of the city, which he also annexed.

Report

The march was originally scheduled for May 10, amid tensions over protests in the Shaykh Jarrah neighborhood, where Palestinian families are threatened with eviction in favor of Jewish settlers. But the appeal was canceled after the Islamist movement Hamas that day, several rockets were launched against Israeli territory in solidarity with the Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The Israeli army’s response resulted in an 11-day conflict in which 260 Palestinians were killed and 13 Israelis.

In power since Monday, the new heterogeneous government coalition led by the Prime Minister, the ultra-nationalist Naftali Bennett and his partner, the centrist Yair Lapid, ended 12 consecutive years of Benjamin Netanyahu in power. This march, which had to be rescheduled twice, represents the first security challenge for the Executive. Bennett warned that Israel will not hesitate to retaliate with force if it receives attacks from Hamas.

Reply

In response to the protest, From Gaza, Palestinian factions launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel, where firefighters reported about twenty fires related to these devices. Israeli soldiers stationed in border area opened tear gas canisters and live ammunition to disperse protesters approaching the border fence.

A spokesperson for Hamas, Mohamed hamadeh, said the “mediators” working for a stable ceasefire with Israel had “calls on the resistance factions not to undertake a military escalation on the basis of the march of the flags”, although he added that “all options are on the table”.