A planned march through Jerusalem by Israeli nationalists has raised worries over violence breaking out as its participants make their way through largely Arab neighborhoods of the contested city.
On Thursday, Israel is observing Jerusalem Day, marking the date when Israel seized East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War. The nationalists plan a flag-waving march that is seen as inflammatory by Palestinians who claim East Jerusalem as their own capital.
In 2021, a similar march sparked 11 days of fighting that claimed the lives of hundreds of people, the majority of them Palestinians.
The procession through the Muslim areas of Jerusalem is "first and foremost, a show of strength" from the participating Israelis over the resident Palestinians, said Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli army major and current senior teaching fellow of the War Studies Department at King's College, London, U.K.
The march through the city, which is holy for Muslims and Jews, could have consequences throughout the region, Bregman told Newsweek on Thursday.
Describing the annual Flag March as "a red rag to a bull," Bregman added: "It might easily trigger an eruption of violence in Jerusalem and also between Israel and frustrated Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank."
A years-long tradition, the Flag March has taken on a different tone over time, according to Gershon Baskin, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and head of the International Communities Organization, a British NGO operating in the Middle East.
The event has become more "polarized," he told Newsweek, and it has included chanting of anti-Palestinian slogans and the temporary closure of local Palestinian businesses along the procession route.
Ahead of this year's march through Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police posted footage of crowds waving Israeli flags in the city of Ramla, to the west of Jerusalem. More than 2,500 police officers were deployed on Thursday for the march, according to the Associated Press, which quoted Jerusalem Police Chief Superintendent Yoram Segal.
"We are going to deal harshly with anyone who tries to disturb the peace," he said, according to AP.
Getty Images published a photo that it said showed participants beating a Palestinian man in the Old City. However, in a post to social media on Thursday afternoon, Israel's police said "the activity continues at this time all over the city by thousands of police officers, and so far the various events have taken place as planned."
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called the march "absurd and provocative," Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Hamas militant group, which controls the Gaza Strip, called for "the people of Jerusalem to mobilize the masses to confront the march of the flags in Jerusalem tomorrow," AP reported this week.
Images showed Palestinians holding a protest against the march in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Tensions have been running particularly high in recent weeks with Palestinians in Gaza firing rockets into Israel and Israeli forces striking the coastal territory.
Israel's police force said on Twitter on Thursday that it had "not asked any shop owners to close their stores today," posting a video of what it said was footage from the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City minutes before the post.
Newsweek reached out to Israel's Government Press Office and Hamas for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
