Israeli far-right groups march through occupied East Jerusalem

Seventeen Palestinians arrested as far-right Israeli settler groups marched through occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israeli women cover themselves with Israeli national flags as they walk inside Jerusalem's Old City, June 15, 2021. [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

Israeli far-right nationalists took part in a flag-waving march through occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday that risked reigniting tensions with Palestinians and posed an early challenge for Israel’s new government.

At least 17 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces, and dozens more were assaulted and forcibly removed from the Damascus Gate plaza leading to the Old City.

Metal barriers were set up by Israeli police on the roads leading to Damascus Gate, which was sealed off to prevent the entry of Palestinians.

The so-called March of the Flags celebrates the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 occupation of the city’s eastern part.

“The right to demonstrate is a right in all democracies,” said Israel’s Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev. “The police is ready and we will do everything in our power to preserve the delicate thread of coexistence.”

Palestinians view the march as provocative as Jewish settlers flaunt their sovereignty over the occupied territory. Previous marches have included Israeli chants of “Death to Arabs” and the attacking of Palestinian homes and shops in the Old City.

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Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem since the Six-Day War of 1967 is not recognised by most of the international community, which says the city’s final status should be a matter of negotiation between the two sides.

This live blog is now closed. These were Tuesday’s updates:


Seventeen Palestinians arrested in Jerusalem

Israeli police remove a Palestinian woman from the area as youth from far-right Israeli groups participate in a flag-waving procession at Damascus Gate, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, June 15, 2021. [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Israeli police said they arrested 17 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians were arrested for “disturbing the peace”, the police said, including throwing stones and assaulting Israeli forces.

Two Israeli officers were wounded and received medical attention.


Red Crescent: 33 Palestinians injured in occupied East Jerusalem

A Palestinian woman confronts Israeli forces outside Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem, on June 15, 2021 [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

At least 33 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem. The injuries were caused by rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and physical assault by Israeli police and forces in the surrounding areas of Damascus Gate.

In the occupied West Bank, several protests took place at different flashpoints and city entrances. Dozens of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters at them.


Palestinians in Gaza protest against Israeli nationalist march

Palestinians raise signs that read “Jerusalem belongs to us” during a protest in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 15, 2021. [Ashraf Amra/Al Jazeera]

Hundreds of Palestinians protested throughout several cities and towns in the Gaza Strip against the Israeli nationalist march in occupied East Jerusalem.

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Some protesters burned pictures of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, the current prime minister.

Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed said many officials of different Palestinian factions spoke at these protests.

“They have said that these protests are just to send a message, that while the flag march provokes Palestinians, they will not be quiet as all options are in front of the Palestinian resistance to respond to any kind of aggression by Israeli authorities towards the people of Jerusalem,” she said, speaking from Gaza City.

Palestinians in Khan Younis set fire to a poster depicting Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a demonstration protesting the Israeli nationalist march in the Old City of Jerusalem [Ashraf Amra/Al Jazeera]

Israeli far-right march moves to Jerusalem’s Old City

Israelis hold flags as they visit the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City, June 15, 2021. [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

The so-called Flag Parade in Damascus Gate has ended, and hundreds of Israeli nationalists have moved away from the area to enter Jerusalem’s Old City through Jaffa Gate, a main thoroughfare for tourists.

“Most of them were pushed out by police,” Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said.

The Flag Parade was “a provocative show of force by the ultra-right-wing Jewish settlers who came here flying their flags”, she added.

The march has passed through the Jewish quarter and will end at the Western Wall, where Jews can pray.

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Israeli right-wing marchers chant racist slogans

Israelis dance with flags by Damascus Gate just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, June 15, 2021. [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

Hundreds of Jewish nationalists participating in the “Flag Parade” in the Damascus Gate area were heard chanting “Death to Arabs” in Hebrew. In another anti-Arab chant, they yelled: “May your village burn.”

One Israeli man shouted at Palestinians in Arabic: “A second Nakba is coming” – referring to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of at least 700,000 Palestinians by Zionist paramilitaries.

Palestinians say such chants are heard every year during the march.

According to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli far-right member of parliament Itamar Ben-Gvir was present during the march.

The daily also reported that four Palestinian Israeli lawmakers, Ahmad Tibi, Ayman Odeh, Osama Saadi and Sami Abu Shehada, had arrived at the Damascus Gate and criticised the decision to allow the march.


Israeli forces injure 17 Palestinians in Jerusalem

A member of the Israeli forces pushes away a Palestinian man in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, on June 15, 2021 [Menahem Kahana/AFP]

At least 17 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli forces in the surrounding area of the Old City, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

At least three of the wounded were taken to hospital, while the remaining injuries were treated in the field.

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The Red Crescent also reported that Israeli forces fired on an ambulance and halted the movement of the medical team involved.


Israeli forces prevent raising of Palestinian flag by Damascus Gate

At least two cases of a raised Palestinian flag being snatched by Israeli forces have been captured by Palestinian journalists on video.

In the first incident, a Palestinian woman near the Damascus Gate area raised the flag for a few seconds before Israeli forces grabbed it and pushed the woman back from the area.

Caption: They cannot stand the sight of the Palestinian flag. Israeli occupation police attack a Jerusalemite woman who raised the flag in front of Damascus Gate in Jerusalem

A second video shows another woman, identified as Hala Abu Ghureiba, raising the Palestinian flag in the face of the Israeli nationalists during the so-called Flag Parade, before she was knocked to the ground by Israeli forces.


Israeli nationalists begin march outside Old City in East Jerusalem

Israelis walk while holding flags outside occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City on June 15, 2021. [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

Hundreds of Jewish nationalists gathered several hundred metres from Damascus Gate near Jerusalem’s Old City.

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Most appeared to be young, religious men, and many held blue-and-white Israeli flags.

“Jerusalem is for all religions, but Jerusalem is in Israel. And in Israel, we must be able to go wherever we want, with our flag,” said marcher Doron Avrahami, 50, channelling right-wing frustrations with police restrictions.


Five Palestinians injured: Red Crescent

A Palestinian medic stands next to tear gas fired by Israeli forces during a protest over a flag-waving procession by far-right Israeli groups in and around occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 15, 2021. [Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jerusalem has reported five people were injured during confrontations with Israeli forces in the vicinity of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Three were wounded with rubber bullets, one was physically beaten, and another was injured by a stun grenade fired by Israeli police.

The Red Crescent in Jerusalem has summoned all its employees and volunteers in anticipation of confrontations with the Israeli forces, and opened a field hospital at its headquarters in al-Sawwana neighbourhood to treat minor and moderate injuries.

At least 13 ambulances are on standby in occupied East Jerusalem, in addition to three ambulance trailers within the Old City.


No access to Damascus Gate

Israeli forces have blocked access to Damascus Gate and are pushing Palestinians away from the area, specifically targeting the youth who are often pushed to the ground and chased out of the vicinity.

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People can neither enter nor exit Damascus Gate, one of the openings into the Old City.

In one instance, the police attempted to make a shop owner close his store. Other vendors in the area have emptied their stalls.

“I had to shut down my bread stall because of the trouble,” Abu Rafiq told Al Jazeera.

Abu Rafiq, a bread seller, had to empty his stall due to the tensions surrounding Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem [Ibrahim Husseini/Al Jazeera]

‘Major provocation’

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said the settler march will not enter through the Damascus Gate.

The area is “the heart of occupied East Jerusalem where Palestinians usually gather,” she said, speaking from the site.

The march will begin within the Damascus Gate plaza, where the so-called Flag Parade will take place for about 40 minutes, she explained.

But unlike previous years, the gate has been locked, meaning that the march will not enter the Muslim Quarter in the Old City.

Instead, the march will have to “leave back up the stairs and move outside the walls of the Old City into Jaffa Gate and go in that way”, Dekker said.

“Palestinians will tell you this [march] is a major provocation,” full of “racist slogans against the Palestinians”, she added.

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“These are far-right Jewish settlers celebrating the occupation of East Jerusalem, and that is something that is incredibly inciteful.”


Israeli forces close off streets leading to Damascus Gate

Israeli forces closed off roads leading to Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem, as others forced Palestinians on the steps of the gate leading into the Old City to leave.

Videos shared on social media showed Israeli police forces setting up metal barricades, blocking off all paths to the gate.

Translation: Israeli forces close streets leading to Damascus Gate and prevent Jerusalemites from reaching it in preparation for the settlers’ ‘Flags March’. 


Palestinians attacked by Israeli forces

Israeli special forces troops have attacked young Palestinian men in the Damascus Gate plaza.

Nearby, an old Palestinian man on crutches and an elderly woman were also roughed up by police.

A video shared on social media showed several Israeli policemen beating up a Palestinian man near Damascus Gate, as they dragged him down a flight of steps.

Translation: Damascus Gate. Five policemen! Why?

Fatima Khader, 62, from the Old City, denounced the confiscation of her home by Israeli settlers, and the jailing of her children.

“My house was taken by the Israelis. I was assaulted by Israelis,” she told Al Jazeera. “There is no international law to protect us – what law is this? I am old, they took my children and put them in prison.”

Fatima Khader says she was assaulted by Israeli police in the past [Al Jazeera]

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Palestinians launch incendiary balloons into Israel over march

Palestinian activists launched incendiary balloons and kites from the Gaza Strip towards areas in southern Israel.

“The kites are in response to the provocative flag march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday,” a Palestinian activist who identified himself as Abu Houzayfa told Anadolu Agency.

The incendiary balloons or kites contain flammable material or oil-soaked rags that may ignite fires once they land on crops.

The Israeli fire brigade said the balloons caused at least 20 blazes in fields in the Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Masked Palestinian supporters of the Al-Nasir Salah Al-Din Brigades prepare incendiary balloons east of Gaza City, to launch across the fence towards Israel on June 15, 2021 [Ashraf Amra/Al Jazeera]

Israeli police seal off Damascus Gate

Palestinian media reported that Israeli police forces prevented Palestinians from reaching Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Videos posted on social media showed Israeli police installing metal barricades as Palestinians were blocked from going through the barriers.

Translation: Israeli forces prevent Palestinians from reaching Damascus Gate. 


‘Clear provocation’, says Israeli councillor

Laura Wharton, councilwoman in the Jerusalem City Council, told the Associated Press that she considered the planned march “completely ridiculous”.

“It’s a clear provocation of extreme right-wingers who are dissatisfied with the government, dissatisfied with a lot of things, and are going to vent their frustrations on the residents of the Old City,” said Wharton.

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The march poses an early test for Israel’s fragile new government, which was sworn in on Sunday and includes parties from across the political spectrum.

Cancelling the march would have opened Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other right-wing members of the coalition to intense criticism from the Israeli right-wing who would view it as a capitulation to Hamas.


Iron Dome system readied in Israel’s south

The Iron Dome missile system batteries could be seen in Israel’s south, as the army deployed them amid heightened tensions with Palestinians in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The decision by Israel’s new government to grant approval for the contentious parade by Israeli nationalists through Palestinian areas around Jerusalem’s Old City raises the possibility of renewed confrontations just weeks after an 11-day assault on Gaza by Israel.

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept rockets fired from Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel on May 11 [File: Ariel Schalit/AP]

‘Palestinians terrified of losing their homes’

Hussein Nasser Eddin, 35, from Shuafat in occupied East Jerusalem said there could be major problems if more people congregate at Damascus Gate to confront the Israel marchers.

But he said lots of police are present so they will prevent people from arriving. Most of the problems will be in the Old City, the logistics officer with local media suggested.

“Palestinians are very angry. People are terrified of losing their homes with the forced expulsions and demolitions,” Eddin told Al Jazeera.

Khalid Alian, 26, from Jabal al-Mukaber also denounced Israeli settlers for forcing Palestinians out of their homes.

“This is our land and the settlers are taking our land and taking our future and dreams away. Eight of my friends were killed by Israeli soldiers. If you had documents proving ownership of your land, how would you feel if you were thrown out to make way for settlers?” he asked.

Khalid Alian from Jabal al-Mukaber in East Jerusalem [Al Jazeera]

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Israel deploys thousands of extra police ahead of march

Israeli police said it will deploy 2,000 forces to provide protection for participants in the planned “flag march” across occupied East Jerusalem.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, the police forces will be deployed in the vicinity of the routes that the participants will take during the march.

The broadcaster said Israeli police also decided to reinforce their presence in the mixed cities inside Israel in anticipation of violence.

Palestinians scuffle with Israeli police officers during a visit by Israeli right-wing Knesset members to the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem [File: Sebastian Scheiner/AP]

‘All options on the table’, warns Hamas

When the march was originally announced for last week, senior Hamas official Khalil Hayya warned it could lead to a return to violence that killed more than 256 people in Gaza and 11 in Israel last month.

Hamas spokesman Mohammed Hamadeh said mediators had been in contact with Palestinian armed groups in recent days to appeal to them “not to engage in a military escalation on the basis of the march”.

“All options remain on the table, however,” said Hamadeh.

Last month’s escalation began after several violent raids into the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and the Al Aqsa Mosque compound were carried out by Israeli forces. This led to Hamas issuing a deadline for Israel to remove its forces from these areas, and then fired a salvo of rockets at Israel when the ultimatum went unheeded. This in turn led to Israel to launch its offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Senior Hamas official Khalil Hayya warned the march by hardline Israelis could lead to a return to violence [File: Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

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Israeli settlers begin to gather for nationalist march

Israeli settlers began arriving midday while being escorted by plainclothes police.

Heavily armed paramilitary border police and other forces patrolled the streets of the city, set up checkpoints, and blocked off roads throughout East Jerusalem.

Iron barriers were placed outside the entrance to Damascus Gate, where Palestinians said they would gather to confront the Israelis.

Young Palestinian men stood on street corners watching, and Palestinian shop owners started to close their businesses. Anti-march protests were expected against the march after midday prayers.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since morning to prevent settlers from trying to enter. Busloads came from inside Israel.

Activists say if the Israeli settlers stay away from the compound the clashes will be less intense. Groups of young boys chanted slogans and refused to move away as police stood nearby.

Right-wing Israelis taking part in the annual Jerusalem Day march [File: Ariel Schalit/AP]
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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