Thousands of far-right Israeli nationalists marched through east Jerusalem Tuesday rekindle tension with the Palestinians 

A Palestinian demonstrator kicks a burning tire during a protest over a flag-waving procession-Image/Reouters

 JERUSALEM – Thousands of far-right Israeli nationalists marched through east Jerusalem in a flag waving on Tuesday, an event that could rekindle tension with the Palestinians and challenge Israel’s new government early on.

 Jerusalem helped spark 11 days of cross-border fighting between Israel and the ruling militant group Hamas in Gaza. 

A Palestinian woman argues with Israeli police as she is evacuated amid tension ahead of a flag-waving-Image Reouters

On Tuesday, Israeli police in riot gear and on horseback cordoned off areas leading to the focal point of the walled old city, the Damascus Gate, and evacuated the area from Palestinians.

Dancing and singing “The people of Israel are alive,” the crowd of mostly religious Jews carrying blue and white Israeli flags then filled the square in front of the gate, usually a popular social meeting place for Palestinians. 

“Take a good look at our flag. Live and suffer,” a protester yelled in Hebrew with a megaphone in one and a cigar in the other to the Palestinian traders on the other side of the police barriers. 

The police should prevent the protesters from passing through the Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Muslim quarter of the old city, which also houses holy shrines for Judaism, Islam and Christianity. 

They were to take a peripheral route  peripheral route to the sacred Western Wall of Judaism. “Jerusalem is there for all religions, but Jerusalem is in Israel. And in Israel we have to be able to go wherever we want with our flag,” said protester Doron Avrahami, 50, channeling right-wing frustration over police restrictions.

The Palestinians attacked the march as a “provocation”, calling the protests in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank “Rabies Day” with fresh memories of the clashes between the Israeli police and Palestinians during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. 

We warn of the dangerous repercussions that may result from the occupying power’s intention to allow extremist Israeli settlers to carry out the Flag March in occupied Jerusalem, ”said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. 

Before the protesters arrived at Damascus Gate, thousands of Palestinians gathered nearby, and at least 17 were injured in clashes with Israeli police who fired stun grenades, the Palestinian Red Crescent Ambulance Service said.

 Several hours before the event was due to start, incendiary balloons launched from Gaza caused several fires in fields in Israeli communities near the border with the Palestinian enclave, witnesses and the Israeli fire brigade said. 

Naftali Bennett’s new Israeli government, which approved the procession via a modified route apparently designed to avoid friction with the Palestinians. Such incidents had stopped with the ceasefire that ended last month’s Israel-Gaza fighting.

Hamas warned of renewed hostilities over the march, testing the mettle of the new Israeli government of Naftali Bennett, which approved the procession though along an amended route that appeared designed to avoid friction with Palestinians.

 The Wednesday march was originally scheduled for May 10th as part of the Jerusalem Day celebrations celebrating Israel’s conquest of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. 

At the last minute, this march was diverted from the Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter. but that move was not enough to stop Hamas from launching rockets on Jerusalem.

The 50-year-old Palestinian Khalil Mitwani, sitting on a bench in front of the police cordon, said of the demonstrators: “You are creating a big problem in Jerusalem. All the people here want peace, why create problems here? For moderation”. 

“Tensions (will) rise again in Jerusalem at a very fragile and sensitive political and security moment when the United Nations and Egypt are actively working to consolidate the ceasefire,” said the US envoy on Twitter. 

East, Wennesland gate. all parties to “act responsibly and avoid any provocation that could lead to another round of confrontation”. 

Israel, which occupied East Jerusalem in an internationally unrecognized step and later annexed it, regards the entire city as its capital. East Jerusalem will be the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza.