Some Israelis chant, ‘Loss of life to Arabs’ and ‘Might your village burn,’ as they march by way of Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis.
Proper-wing Israelis in Jerusalem have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a United Nations facility for Palestinian refugees as an annual march took place marking Israel’s conquest of the jap a part of the town.
Some Israelis chanted, “Loss of life to Arabs” and “Might your village burn,” as they marched by way of the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis on Monday, going by way of the Muslim quarter to mark “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the Israeli occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 warfare.
Hundreds of closely armed police and border police had been dispatched prematurely as a result of settlers often assault, assault and harass Palestinians and retailers within the Muslim quarter. The settlers reside within the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem in settlements and outposts, that are unlawful underneath worldwide regulation.
Teams of younger individuals, some carrying Israeli flags, had been seen on Monday confronting Palestinian shopkeepers, passers-by and schoolchildren in addition to Israeli rights activists and police, at instances spitting on individuals, lobbing insults and making an attempt to pressure their manner into homes.
Police detained not less than two youths, in accordance with AFP journalists on the scene.
A small group of these rallying, together with an Israeli member of parliament, stormed a compound in East Jerusalem belonging to the UN company for Palestinian refugees, referred to as UNRWA.
Israel has banned the company from working in occupied Palestinian territory and in Israel, impacting the life-saving work that it has been finishing up for greater than 70 years in areas that embrace the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.
UNRWA West Financial institution coordinator Roland Friedrich stated a few dozen Israeli protesters, together with Yulia Malinovsky, one of many legislators behind an Israeli regulation that banned UNRWA, entered the compound, climbing its foremost gate in view of Israeli police.
Final yr’s procession, held in the course of the first yr of Israel’s assault on Gaza, noticed ultranationalist Israelis assault a Palestinian journalist within the Previous Metropolis and name for violence towards Palestinians. And 4 years in the past, the march contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day warfare in Gaza.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s far-right nationwide safety minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and different politicians had been amongst greater than 2,000 Israelis who stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and surrounding areas.
Ben-Gvir launched a video on his X account from the location – Islam’s third holiest – saying he “prayed for victory within the warfare, for the return of all our hostages, and for the success of the newly-appointed head of the Shin Guess – Main Common David Zini”.
Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Vaserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer had been amongst these accompanying the ultranationalist minister.
Backed by armed police, Ben-Gvir has carried out similar provocative moves in the compound earlier than, usually at delicate junctures in Israel’s warfare on Gaza, to advocate for elevated army strain and to dam all humanitarian help getting into Gaza.
The Jerusalem Waqf – the Islamic authority that oversees the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, identified to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) – decried the storming of the compound by Ben-Gvir and different members of the Israeli Knesset and referred to as for a halt to all “provocative actions” within the space.
Beneath the administration of the Jordan-appointed Waqf, solely Muslims are allowed to wish on the compound.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim stated the march is aimed toward asserting Israeli dominance over the town.
“Movies present Israeli residents contained in the Previous Metropolis of Jerusalem attacking Palestinian retailers and throwing objects at them,” Ibrahim stated, reporting from Doha, Qatar as Al Jazeera has been banned from reporting in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
“That is once more a reminder that nobody has immunity.”
