Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in a Sunday address, warned Israel against allowing right-wing Israelis to conduct the annual Jerusalem Day “flag march” next week in Jerusalem’s Old City, a year after Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem when the event lasted took place.
“I want to clearly warn the enemy not to commit these crimes and these steps. The Palestinian people, led by the resistance — particularly in the West Bank and Jerusalem — will not allow this Jewish, Talmudic garbage to go unanswered,” Haniyeh said via video to a crowd in Gaza.
“Our decision is clear and without hesitation… We will resist with all our abilities and we will not allow the violation of Al-Aqsa Mosque or brawls in the streets of Jerusalem,” Haniyeh said.
Last week Public Safety Minister Omer Barlev announced the march would be held the same as in previous years. According to the plan approved by Barlev, protesters will march along the Jaffa road to the Damascus Gate, where access to Palestinians will be blocked. You will continue to the Old City through Hagai Street in the Muslim Quarter and end at the Western Wall.
The plan still has to be approved by the cabinet. But Barlev’s announcement immediately sparked controversy in the coalition, with left-wing lawmakers attacking the decision, saying it risked sparking an escalation with Palestinian terror groups.
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Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s conquest of the Old City and East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, is celebrated by nationalist Jews, particularly youth, who march through the capital dancing with Israeli flags. Palestinians have long viewed the march as a provocation.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a news conference after meeting Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon June 28, 2021. (Dalati Nohra/ Lebanese official government via AP)
Last year’s march came as tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem were soaring. Israeli police repeatedly clashed with Palestinians at the holy site of Temple Mount in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, injuring hundreds. There was also tension over possible forced evictions of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities changed the route of the 2021 march an hour before it was scheduled to go ahead after threats from Hamas. Police swarmed around the Old City to prevent Israeli protesters from reaching the Damascus Gate.
But Hamas still fired rockets at Jerusalem during the march. Sirens wailed across the capital as attendees ducked for cover.
The rocket fire sparked the 11-day war between Israel and terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip last year. Hamas has vowed not to allow Israel to repeat the annual rally.
In his speech, Haniyeh noted with satisfaction that “a year ago this march was torn apart by al-Qassam missiles” – a reference to the terrorist group’s military wing.
Israelis take cover as a siren warns of rockets launching from the Gaza Strip during Jerusalem Day in Jerusalem May 10, 2021. (Flash90)
A masked spokesman for a group of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas, followed up with comments after Haniyeh’s speech. Flanked by four armed men, he similarly threatened Israel over the flag march.
“Our people will absolutely not allow Israel to break the rules of engagement and allow a return to provocations,” the spokesman told the assembled crowd in Gaza.
This year’s march comes again amid roiling tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Since March 22, a wave of deadly terrorist attacks has swept through Israeli cities, killing 19 people in the bloodiest non-war violence in years.
At least 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli counterattacks in the West Bank during the same period. Many were gunmen who engaged in firefights with Israeli soldiers or took part in violent clashes. Others were apparently uninvolved civilians, like Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in disputed circumstances in Jenin two weeks ago, sparking an international outcry.
MK Itamar Ben Gvir joins right-wing activists taking part in a “flag march” that aims to reach the Old City of Jerusalem but ultimately stops at Tzahal Square on April 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The violence again intersected with the holy month of Ramadan. There have been several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Temple Mount compound, although tensions have not escalated to widespread violence. Jews revere the hilltop as the holiest site in their religion, while Muslims call it Islam’s third holiest shrine.
As tensions peaked in late April, Jewish nationalists attempted to organize a flag march inspired by the annual Jerusalem Day event. Hamas threatened to respond violently if that march went ahead, saying its “finger on the trigger” was on.
The organizers of the event originally planned to enter the Old City through the Damascus Gate directly into the Muslim Quarter and continue from there to the Western Wall. Had they been successful, in the hours before the Ramadan fast-breaking, the protesters would have been met head-on by crowds of Muslim believers who would have been herded into the Old City.
Israeli police violently banned participants – including far-right Knesset MP Itamar Ben Gvir – from going through the Damascus Gate into the Old City. The day finally passed without an attack by the Gaza terrorist group.
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