26-5-2025
On the eve of celebrating the capture of East Jerusalem by Isreal groups of young Israelis have marched through the city Monday chanting “Death to Arabs” and singing “May your village burn.”
Palestinian shopkeepers had closed up early and police lined the narrow alleys ahead of the march that often becomes a rowdy and sometimes violent procession of ultranationalist Jews. A policeman raised his arms in celebration at one point, recognising a marcher and going in for a hug.
A small group of protesters, including an Israeli member of parliament, meanwhile, stormed a compound in east Jerusalem belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
The march commemorates Jerusalem Day — which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. The event, set to begin later in the day, threatens to inflame tensions that are already rife in the restive city amid nearly 600 days of war in Gaza.
Jerusalem lies at the heart of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, who each see the city as a key part of their national and religious identity. It is one of the most intractable issues of the conflict and often emerges as a flashpoint.
Last year’s procession, which came during the first year of the war in Gaza, saw ultranationalist Israelis attack a Palestinian journalist in the Old City and call for violence against Palestinians. Four years ago, the march helped set off an 11-day war in Gaza.
Tour buses carrying young ultranationalist Jews lined up near entrances to the Old City, bringing hundreds from outside Jerusalem, including settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Police said they had detained a number of individuals, without specifying, and “acted swiftly to prevent violence, confrontations, and provocations.”
Volunteers from the pro-peace organisations Standing Together and Free Jerusalem tried to position themselves between the marchers and residents to prevent violence.
“This is our home, this is our state,” shouted one protester at a Palestinian woman.
“Go away from here!” she responded, in Hebrew. AFP