Residents of Jerusalem are bracing for a rightwing flag march through Muslim areas of the Old City, an annual event often accompanied by violence.
The Jerusalem Day parade by thousands of Jewish nationalists celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the 1967 war, a move that is not internationally recognised.
It is often marred by violent clashes between marchers and Palestinian residents of the Old City, as well as anti-Arab hate speech and vandalism of Palestinian property.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Residents of Jerusalem are bracing for a rightwing flag march through Muslim areas of the Old City, an annual event often accompanied by violence.
After weeks of unrest in 2021, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the parade route for men to be changed at the last minute to avoid the main Muslim thoroughfare, but violence on the day still contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the police, said last week he would be participating and encouraged supporters to join.
Israeli police said on Tuesday that about 3,000 officers would be deployed in the Old City and surrounding areas on Wednesday afternoon and several major roads would be closed.
There was no immediate comment on plans for the parade to go ahead as usual from Palestinian authorities or from the Jordanian Waqf, which administers the Muslim holy sites in the Old City.
In recent years, however, growing numbers of Jewish visitors, sometimes praying or with police escorts, have inflamed longstanding Palestinian fears that Israel plans to annex the area.
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