Police have allowED the thousands of marchers to take the traditional route through the Old City’s Damascus Gate — despite an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past year.
JERUSALEM — Israel deployed over 2,000 police on Thursday for a march by flag-waving Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City, a contentious event that comes as tensions are already running high.
While Israeli officials describe the march as a festive parade, it has been marred by anti-Arab racist chants and violence toward local Palestinians by some of the marchers. Two years ago, it helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, and the Hamas militant group has urged Palestinians to confront the parade this year.
“We are going to deal harshly with anyone who tries to disturb the peace,” he said. He said past troubles were caused by a tiny minority of people, but said there there would be no tolerance for incitement or violence that could “endanger the people that are along the route or living along the route.”
Israel’s national security minister, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, has joined the march in past years. It was not known whether he would join this year, his first as a Cabinet minister.“We ask the people of Jerusalem to mobilize the masses to confront the march of the flags in Jerusalem tomorrow,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza.
Jordan, Israel’s neighbor which acts as a custodian of the Jerusalem shrine, condemned the Jewish visits there and the trajectory of the march.
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Israel deploys heavy police presence ahead of contentious Jerusalem marchIsrael is deploying over 2,000 police for a parade by flag-waving Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City. Authorities say the heightened security presence is part of a determined effort to ensure the contentious event passes without violence on Thursday. Police have decided to allow the thousands of marchers to take the “traditional” route through the Old City’s Damascus Gate. That's despite an uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past year and heavy fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza last week. While Israeli officials describe the parade as a festive event, it has been marred by anti-Arab racist chants in the past. The Hamas militant group has urged Palestinians to confront the march.
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