2023-05-18 06:08:01
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel deployed more than 2,000 police officers on Thursday for a march by Jewish nationalists who will wave their flags down the main Palestinian artery of Jerusalem’s Old City, a controversial act that coincides with a time of great tension in the zone.
The authorities indicated that it is a measure to ensure that the controversial act takes place without violence.
Police have decided to allow thousands of people to take the “traditional” tour through the Damascus Gate of the Old City despite an uptick in violence between Israelis and Palestinians over the past year and heavy fighting between the army and insurgents. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip last week.
In the early hours of Thursday, hundreds of people were going up to a delicate place of worship for Jews and Muslims as part of the day’s activities, visits that Palestinians consider a provocation. The group included at least one Israeli government minister, the most right-wing in the country’s history, according to Jewish activists leading the rally.
Although the Israeli authorities describe the distillation as a festive event, it is often plagued by racist anti-Arab chants and violence towards Palestinians by some of the participants. Two years ago, he helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and the Palestinian insurgency in Gaza, and the enclave’s ruling group, Hamas, has urged Palestinians to confront the act this year.
Yoram Segal, a senior city police officer, told reporters on Wednesday that this time authorities were determined to avoid violence.
Around 2,500 agents will be deployed throughout the area, both to guarantee security and to act quickly once morest any type of violence.
“We are going to deal harshly with anyone who tries to disturb the peace,” he said, adding that in the past, problems have been caused by a small minority. Incitement or violence that might “endanger people” will not be tolerated. who is along the path or lives along the path”.
According to Segal, the police have been working “hand in hand” with Jewish and Palestinian community leaders to maintain calm. In addition, he confirmed that a series of preventive detentions of people believed to be planning violent arrests were carried out, but he did not offer further details.
The march commemorates “Jerusalem Day,” which celebrates Israel’s takeover of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel considers the entire city its eternal capital, but the annexation of the eastern sector, where the major holy sites, is not internationally recognized, and the Palestinians claim the area as the capital of their future state.
Every year thousands of Israeli nationalists take part in the march waving blue and white national flags and chanting songs. But, in some cases, anti-Arab slogans are chanted as they pass Palestinian onlookers and businesses.
In recent years, the now Israeli Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, participated in the act. It is not known if he will do so this year, the first in which he has ministerial responsibilities.
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