Qassam Muaddi
West Bank
27 May, 2022
On Tuesday, Israeli police said that the march’s route coming Sunday will be changed in coordination with organizers, as to limit attendance to the Damascus Gate and the wailing wall, as reported by Israeli media.
The arrests focused on Palestinians who had been arrested in previous protests or banned from entering Al-Aqsa, committee said [Getty]
Israeli forces arrested over twenty Palestinians in Jerusalem between Wednesday and Thursday, and some eighty more inside Israel, the Jerusalem detainees’ families committee spokesperson, Amjad Abu Asab, told The New Arab. The arrests come a few days ahead of the Israeli settlers’ flag march, scheduled for Sunday.
“Israeli authorities usually arrest Palestinians whom they consider to be active during expected protests”, Abu Asab indicated.
“The arrests have mostly targeted Palestinians who have been arrested in previous waves of protests in the city, and Palestinians who have been banned from entering Al-Aqsa compound, all of which we see a s preparation for reactions to the settlers’ flag march on Sunday”, he added.
Last week, Israeli government approved the yearly ‘flag march’ organized by extremist right-wing settler organizations, with the support of far-right lawmakers like Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
The march, which commemorates Israel’s 1967 occupation ofeastern Jerusalem according to the Hebrew calendar, was organized for the first time in 1968 by followers of mesianic-Zionist religious leader Avaraham Hachenkook and students of his ‘Merkaz Harav’ religious school in Jerusalem.
The march includes holding thousands of Israeli flags and chanting Zionist nationalist slogans, in addition to a group celebration dance. The route traditionally crossed through Jerusalem’s old city and ended at the wailing wall after passing around Al-Aqsa compound.
In recent years, participants have chanted racist slogans like “Death to the Arabs”, and violently threatened Palestinians in the old city, forcing them to close their shops.
Last year, however, the march’s route was changed as to avoid entering the old city, following Palestinian protests over expulsions of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah and Israeli police incursions to Al-Aqsa mosque.
Palestinians had protested holding the march at all amidst the escalation, considering it provocative. Hamas’s armed wing responded to the holding of the flag march by firing several rockets towards Jerusalem as the march took place, triggering an eleven-day-long military confrontation between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza.
Last week, Israeli security minister, Omer Balev, announced that the march will follow the same route as in previous year. On Tuesday, however, Israeli police said that the march’s route coming Sunday will be changed in coordination with organizers, as to limit attendance to the Damascus Gate and the wailing wall, as reported by Israeli media.
Israeli media also quoted an Israeli government official on that the US is pressuring the Israeli government to change Sunday’s march route, amidst warnings from Palestinian factions to escalate in case the march included the old city or Al-Aqsa compound.
"The [Israeli] fallen calls to storm Al-Aqsa through the flag march oblige us to stand with resolution”, said on Sunday a statement by the ‘Palestinian Resistance Joint Operations Chamber’, a coordination body grouping some 12 Palestinian armed factions operating from the Gaza Strip.
“Our people will not allow [Israel] to break the rules of engagement and to return to the phase of provocations”, continued the statement, which was read by a masked spokesman at an event organized by Hamas in Gaza, commemorating a year since the 11-day military confrontation of last year.
At the event, Hamas’s politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh said that “Our decision is clear and unhesitating… We will resist with all our capabilities and we will not permit the violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque or thuggery in the streets of Jerusalem”.
Palestinian presidency also said in a statement on Thursday that “the Israeli government bares full responsibility for this escalation which will explode the situation”, adding that “our people and its leadership are capable of protecting Jerusalem and its holy places”.
This year’s flag march arrives following weeks of escalation in Jerusalem and the West Bank. during April, Israeli police and settlers repeatedly stormed Al-Aqsa compound amidst the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, violently repressing worshipers at the site.
Earlier in May, the Israeli Knesset’s security committee announced that the Israeli police had arrested some 781 Palestinians during Al-Aqsa incursions in April. One 23-year-old Palestinian who was wounded by Israeli police at the sanctuary died of his wounds three weeks later.
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