ISRAEL DOUBLES DOWN ON CONTROVERSIAL JERUSALEM FLAG MARCH ROUTE DESPITE WARNINGS

Fri 27 May 2022:

Despite warnings of catastrophic consequences and violence, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided on Friday not to alter the controversial Israeli flag march’s route through occupied East Jerusalem.

According to a statement from Bennett’s office, the premier spoke on the phone with Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, and other security authorities to confirm preparations for the march to go place as planned on Sunday.

PROVOCATIVE FLAG MARCH WILL JEOPARDIZE SECURITY, STABILITY IN JERUSALEM, ARAB LEAGUE WARNS

Bennett said like in the past, the march will end in the courtyard of Al-Buraq Wall, or Western Wall, adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and will not pass through Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

The annual flag march, which celebrates Israel’s capture of the Old City in the 1967 Middle East war, is expected to pass through Bab al-Amud area (Damascus Gate area) and East Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Islamist Hamas group earlier warned Israel that it risks another war if it allows the march through Jerusalem’s Old City.

ARAB LEAGUE WARNS

Arab League issued a statement on Thursday warning against a planned Jewish nationalist march in East Jerusalem.

“The provocative flag march will jeopardize security, stability, and efforts of mitigating the escalating tensions,” said Saeed Abu Ali, Arab League assistant secretary-general for Palestine affairs and occupied Arab territories.

The controversial “flag march” is due to take place on Sunday to mark Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the unification of the city after Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.

Condemning “in the strongest terms” the Israeli decision to allow the flag march to pass through Islamic neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, Ali said the march would blatantly provoke the Palestinian people and the Arab nations and lead to more tension and violence.

He urged the Israeli government to immediately call off “the flag march,” calling it a blatant violation of the international laws, and held the Israeli side “full responsibility for any violent escalations.”

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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