JRUSALEM, Friday, May 19, 2023 (WAFA) – Hundreds of Israeli supremacist settlers today stormed the vicinity of several gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city of Jerusalem, according to local sources.
They said that hundreds of supremacist Jewish settlers, under tightened police protection, provocatively stormed the Bab al-Sahira area in the Old City of Jerusalem, chanting racist slogans against Palestinians and Arabs, as Palestinians made their way to the mosque compound for Friday prayers.
Settlers, under police protection, also stormed the vicinity of the Lions' Gate (Bab al-Asbat), smashed the windows of vehicles parked in the area, and tried to attack worshippers who were on their way to the holy site, as police fired stun grenades at the worshippers, leading to a number of injuries.
This came amidst rising tensions in the occupied territories after tens of thousands of supremacist settlers marched to Jerusalem’s Old City in the provocative ‘Flag march’.
Shop owners in the Old City of Jerusalem were forced to close their businesses by Israeli forces on Thursday, under the threat of weapons, on the pretext of securing the site for the march.
Israeli media reported that members of the Israeli government took part in the provocative ‘Flag March’, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
Video footages that went viral online showed Israeli police physically assaulting journalists and reporters, including CNN reporter Ben Wedeman, as they tried to cover the march in the occupied city.
The so-called “Flag March” is organized by Israeli Jewish supremacists to celebrate Israel’s occupation and colonization of East Jerusalem since 1967.
The annual Flag March usually see thousands of right-wing Israeli settlers, under police protection, carrying machine guns, waving Israeli flags, dancing, singing and descending on Jerusalem to celebrate the so-called unification of the city, including the hotbed Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Bab al-Amoud and the Muslim Quarter of the Old City on their way to the Wailing Wall, as Palestinians are forced to close their stores.
Palestinian maintain that the provocative Jerusalem Day events are meant to intimidate Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and reflect Israel’s policies of settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing and expulsions of the Palestinian population.
Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been subject to Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied their citizenship rights and are instead classified only as "residents" whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city for more than a few years.
They are also discriminated against in all aspects of life including housing, employment and services, and are unable to access services in the West Bank due to the construction of Israel's separation wall.
K.F.
