Occupied East Jerusalem – “We need an annual day to remind the Arabs that we control the [Old City’s Muslim Quarter] … If we march on another route, they will think that they rule this place.”
The speaker, a teenager who did not give his name, was one of thousands of young marchers who traveled to Occupy East Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday for the annual far-right “flag march “, with his Yeshiva (Jewish. religious high school).
The event, held on “Jerusalem Day”, which marks the 1967 capture and occupation of East Jerusalem, a move considered illegal under international law, has led to violence in recent years, while the far-right Israelis shouted slogans and insults, as well. such as physically attacking Palestinians and even journalists.
Among the attendees, there was an unmistakable sense of Jewish superiority and a fervent religious calling underlying the march.
Before the procession gathered at Damascus Gate and then entered the Old City, hundreds of ultranationalists entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, even as ultra-Orthodox Jews distributed pamphlets explaining that it was forbidden under Jewish law to ascend.
Religious Zionist Jews, some wearing shirts with inflammatory messages, however, did not follow that ban, leading to tense situations that often greeted their arrival at Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam and a national symbol of Palestine.
Palestinian Muslims sitting in the compound’s Qibli Mosque chanted far-right Israelis, while others sat quietly reading the Qur’an.
By the time the main event began, at around 4 pm (13:00 GMT) in the afternoon, many streets in the normally bustling Old City were empty, with Palestinian shop owners the majority. listened to Israeli police recommendations that they close their businesses for the day. avoid any confrontation with the marchers.
And yet, despite the attempts of approximately 2,500 police officers to stop any incidents, some clashes took place.
One person, an Italian supporter of the Palestinian cause wearing a keffiyeh scarf around his neck, was harassed by Israeli marchers, one of whom threatened to kill him.
The police, however, were able to largely prevent any more serious fights from taking place, largely by keeping the far-right marchers away from everyone.
Jewish power
The people who attended the march seemed eager to show tolerance, and even actively encourage, their position from the Israeli government, especially in the presence of Israeli government ministers and politicians throughout the day, including far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, who became the first cabinet minister to attend the march. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also attended later.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the march “a beautiful day to celebrate our return to our eternal capital”.
But Eliyahu, a marcher from Gush Etzion who came as part of a group called Jewish Truth – formed by a group that considers itself more far-right than Ben-Gvir, said that the minister should resign.
“Ben-Gvir left the truth,” said Eliyahu. “He should leave the government.”
For Eliyahu, the event was an opportunity to openly display his far-right position and sing in support of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
“I feel happy because we occupy most of our country, [but] I was very sad [we cannot go to Al-Aqsa]”said Eliyahu, before adding that his favorite song is “Kahane was right”, a reference to the late ultranationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who inspired the Jewish gunman who killed 29 Palestinians in massacre at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994, and founded Kach, a party that was later declared a “terrorist” organization in Israel.
“We have to move the Arabs,” Eliyahu said. “We should have broken Gaza last week.”
“Kahane is right”, along with “Death to the Arabs” was a common refrain of many, but not all, of the marchers, raising thousands of Israeli flags and shouting through loudspeakers, throughout the day.
The Palestinians are moving away
Across the street from the Damascus Gate, where thousands of Jewish Israelis sang joyfully, many Palestinian shops, markets and restaurants were closed to public access, similar to the situation in the Old City itself.
A Palestinian Christian shopkeeper told Al Jazeera that the shops were closed to prevent any harm to the marchers.
There are fears ahead of the event that they could lead to wider violence, with the situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza already tense, after more than a year of almost daily attacks on Israel that killed hundreds of Palestinians, and four days of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza that left at least 33 Palestinians and one Israeli dead.
For Palestinians, events like the flag march serve as a reminder of the ongoing occupation, and the treatment that many now call “apartheid”.
“We Palestinians have received the message that this is the day they are celebrating on our account,” said Fakhri Abu Diab, an East Jerusalem community leader whose al-Bustan community is facing demolition by Israeli authorities. .
Abu Diab earlier on Thursday was detained in Al-Aqsa while he was interviewed by an Israeli media outlet.
He said he was later released, but not before being told that he was banned from the Old City for the rest of the day.
“They don’t want me to speak on this day of their celebration – even to the Israeli media,” Abu Diab said. “They prefer that we stay in our homes and not interfere with their celebration of conquering us.”