The Presidency Wednesday night stated that Israeli occupation authorities underestimate the Palestinian people’s determination to challenge the occupation by insisting on allowing the annual “March of the Flags” in East Jerusalem.
Presidency spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that following the occupation authorities’ insistence on allowing the “March of the Flags”, organized by Israeli Jewish supremacists to celebrate Israel’s occupation and colonization of East Jerusalem, it is now the time for Jerusalem to become a beacon for all Palestinians and Arabs to confront these assaults that are destabilizing the region.
He added that by giving the green light to the march and acquiescence to fundamentalist settlers, the occupation authorities were once again underestimating the Palestinian people and leadership’s determination to remain resilient and challenge the occupation.
He called on the Israeli government to refrain from such provocations that can only further inflame tensions, fuelling more unrest and violence, with dire consequences, and held it fully responsible for this escalation that would lead to an explosion of the situation, while recalling the Palestinian people’s ability to defend Jerusalem as it did when Israel installed the electronic gates around Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in 2017.
Referring to the Israeli extremist organization Lehava’s recent post calling for dismantling the Dome of the Rock starting next Sunday, Abu Rudeineh warned that Israeli extremists have recklessly crossed all red lines.
The advertisement was shared by Bentzi Gopstein, the head of Lahava, an ultra-radicalized Jewish extremist group whose focus is preventing mixing of Jews and non-Jews with a regular presence at Israel’s “death to the Arabs” marches.
Abu Rudeineh called on the international community, particularly the US administration, to adopt a clear and explicit stance on these Israeli provocations, demystify the Palestinian-US relations through translating its words into actions, and maintain its credibility.
“Jerusalem is not for sale and peace will not be at any cost,” he stressed while concluding: “There will be neither security nor stability without the consent of the Palestinian people and leadership.”
Last week, Israel’s “Public Security” Minister Omer Barlev announced that the march, scheduled for May 29, would be held along the same route as in previous years, as police commissioner on Monday defended his recommendation to allow the annual march to go through predominately Palestinian areas of the Old City.
The so-called “Flag March” is organized by Israeli Jewish supremacists to celebrate Israel’s occupation and colonization of East Jerusalem since 1967.
Each year, thousands of Israeli members of far-right groups participate in the march, waving Israeli flags and chanting racist and genocidal slogans, as they pass by Palestinian onlookers and businesses passing through Jerusalem’s iconic Damascus Gate, entering the narrow alleys of the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and ending at the Western Wall plaza, created by Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem’s ancient Moroccan Quarter in the first days of the occupation.
Expressing their religious as well as their ethnic hatred, the fanatical participants frequently belt out racist slogans, including “Muhammad is dead,” to denigrate the prophet of Islam and the faith of Muslims, and “Zachreni Na,” with its call for ethnic cleansing: “Palestine – May their name be wiped out!”
In 2021, a similar planned march by Jewish nationalists was one of the catalysts that ignited the full-scale confrontation between Israel and Palestinians across historic Palestine. Originally scheduled for 10 May 2021, the march was postponed due to Palestinian resistance, which forced Israel into an embarrassing retreat.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)