Israeli nationalists chant ‘Death to Arabs’, march across Palestinian territory | World news
JERUSALEM: Thousands of people, mostly ultra-nationalist Israelis, took part in an annual march in a sensitive Palestinian area of Jerusalem on Wednesday, with some chanting “Death to Arabs” and further inflaming already rising wartime tensions.
Jerusalem, the emotional center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has remained mostly calm during the Israel-Hamas war. But the annual march, seen by Palestinians as a provocation, can spark widespread unrest, as it did three years ago, when it helped trigger an 11-day war in Gaza.
Protesters gathered outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s historic Old City, a central gathering place for Palestinians in east Jerusalem, chanted anti-Arab and anti-Islam slogans, danced and waved Israeli flags as the procession began.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly made controversial visits to sensitive Jerusalem holy sites, was expected to join the march in the Old City.
“We are sending a message to Hamas from here: Jerusalem is ours. Damascus Gate is ours,” he told protesters at the start of the rally. “And with God’s help, the entire victory is ours,” Ben-Gvir said, referring to the war in Gaza, which he has demanded that Israel continue until Hamas is defeated.
Commenting on the march, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said, “Our people will not rest until the occupation ends and an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Just before the march began, the crowd scuffled with police and threw plastic bottles at a journalist wearing a vest bearing the word PRESS. Police said they arrested five protesters for throwing objects at journalists.
The march comes at a time when tensions are high over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 hostages. Israel responded with a massive assault that killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, displaced much of the territory’s population and caused widespread destruction, according to local health officials.
The United States has voiced its support for a phased ceasefire and hostage release outlined by President Joe Biden last week. But Israel says it will not end the war without destroying Hamas, while the militant group is demanding a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The annual march commemorates “Jerusalem Day,” which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, but its occupation of east Jerusalem is not recognised internationally. Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, see the march as a provocation.
Police said they had deployed 3,000 security personnel to ensure peace and arrested several Palestinian men before the march began and were seen being led away with their hands tied behind their backs.
At the urging of Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, the march is following its traditional route, entering the Muslim Quarter of the Old City through the Damascus Gate and ending at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.
As buses carrying young Jewish men for the march thronged around the Old City’s centuries-old walls, Palestinian shopkeepers in the Muslim Quarter closed in preparation.
Police insisted the march would not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The hilltop mosque is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of Jewish temples in ancient times.
Alleged encroachment at the site has triggered widespread violence several times over several decades.
Protests were planned throughout the day. The Israeli group Tag Meir sent volunteers into the emptying city streets ahead of the march to distribute flowers to Christian and Muslim residents of the Old City.