Jerusalem: Prime Minister Naftali Bennett Defended the decision to organize an annual march to be observed on Monday IsraelThe annexation of East Jerusalem was marked by violence and anti-Palestinian racism.
Authorities called thousands of police, forcibly removed Palestinians and risked another war with the Islamist terrorist group Hamas to ensure that thousands of right-wing Israelis could parade through dense Palestinian neighborhoods and hundreds more in an intensely competing holy city. to go to the site.
Israel changed course at the last minute in 2021 amid rising tensions over violence at the holy site and efforts to evacuate dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem. Hamas still fired rockets and the Gaza War broke out for 11 days.
Israel avoided that scenario this year and allowed the parade to take its traditional route through the middle of the Old City’s Muslim quarter.
But in March Israeli nationalists raised racist slogans including “death to billions” and attacked Palestinians and journalists. Fighting broke out along the way, as the police intervened mainly to protect the Jews and disperse the Palestinians.
Palestinian Red Crescent The rescue service said 62 Palestinians were injured, with 23 requiring hospitalization. Israeli police said they arrested more than 60 suspects and injured five officers. The majority of those arrested appear to be Palestinians, although police declined to provide a breakdown.
Bennett praised police for their handling of the incident and said Israel was obliged to march in the face of threats from Hamas.
“If we hadn’t done it on the regular route, we would – in fact – never go back to it,” he said. “It could have been a return to sovereignty.”
Bennett praised the marchers, saying that “except one extremist group, which we will deal with to the fullest extent of the law, who celebrated yesterday, they did so in a very special, heartwarming way.”
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, along with holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims in the 1967 war, and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.
Also on Sundays, Israel allowed hundreds of mostly nationalist and religious Jews to visit the holy site, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims know as the al-Aqsa mosque complex. The site, which is the holiest for Jews and the third holiest in Islam, has often been the center of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The Palestinians fear that Israel is planning to capture the site or divide it. Israel says it has committed to a decades-old set of arrangements known as the status quo, under which Jews can visit the site but not pray there – but that rule has been steadily loosened in recent years. . Some Sunday visitors were seen praying with little police intervention.
“Despite great efforts by far-right activists, Sunday’s flag march in the Old City of Jerusalem did not lead to a major conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” Amos Hareli Wrote in a column in Israel’s Haretz newspaper. “Instead, we saw a general collection of racist demonstrations, violent scuffles between Jews and Arabs, and a general sense of rebellion.”
Authorities called thousands of police, forcibly removed Palestinians and risked another war with the Islamist terrorist group Hamas to ensure that thousands of right-wing Israelis could parade through dense Palestinian neighborhoods and hundreds more in an intensely competing holy city. to go to the site.
Israel changed course at the last minute in 2021 amid rising tensions over violence at the holy site and efforts to evacuate dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem. Hamas still fired rockets and the Gaza War broke out for 11 days.
Israel avoided that scenario this year and allowed the parade to take its traditional route through the middle of the Old City’s Muslim quarter.
But in March Israeli nationalists raised racist slogans including “death to billions” and attacked Palestinians and journalists. Fighting broke out along the way, as the police intervened mainly to protect the Jews and disperse the Palestinians.
Palestinian Red Crescent The rescue service said 62 Palestinians were injured, with 23 requiring hospitalization. Israeli police said they arrested more than 60 suspects and injured five officers. The majority of those arrested appear to be Palestinians, although police declined to provide a breakdown.
Bennett praised police for their handling of the incident and said Israel was obliged to march in the face of threats from Hamas.
“If we hadn’t done it on the regular route, we would – in fact – never go back to it,” he said. “It could have been a return to sovereignty.”
Bennett praised the marchers, saying that “except one extremist group, which we will deal with to the fullest extent of the law, who celebrated yesterday, they did so in a very special, heartwarming way.”
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, along with holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims in the 1967 war, and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.
Also on Sundays, Israel allowed hundreds of mostly nationalist and religious Jews to visit the holy site, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims know as the al-Aqsa mosque complex. The site, which is the holiest for Jews and the third holiest in Islam, has often been the center of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The Palestinians fear that Israel is planning to capture the site or divide it. Israel says it has committed to a decades-old set of arrangements known as the status quo, under which Jews can visit the site but not pray there – but that rule has been steadily loosened in recent years. . Some Sunday visitors were seen praying with little police intervention.
“Despite great efforts by far-right activists, Sunday’s flag march in the Old City of Jerusalem did not lead to a major conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” Amos Hareli Wrote in a column in Israel’s Haretz newspaper. “Instead, we saw a general collection of racist demonstrations, violent scuffles between Jews and Arabs, and a general sense of rebellion.”