A group of Israeli ultra-nationalists said it is determined to go ahead with a flag-waving march around predominantly Palestinian areas of Jerusalem's Old City later Wednesday, brushing aside a police ban of an event that served as one of the triggers of last year's Israel-Gaza war.
Israeli police said a large number of officers were deployed around Jerusalem's historic Old City, home to religious sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, out of concern that confrontations could further ignite an already tense atmosphere in the city during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Palestinian militant groups said Tuesday evening that they were “raising the state of general alert” and warned against Israeli radicals holding a flag march in Jerusalem, The Associated Press reported.
“At this stage the police are not approving the protest march under the requested layout,” the police said in a statement, without elaborating. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday on whether the march would be banned altogether, or just on the proposed route past the Damascus Gate.
In a similar situation last May, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward Jerusalem as Israeli nationalists holding a flag march were making their way to the Old City. The events set off an 11-day war between Israel and the militant group Hamas that rules Gaza.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have surged in recent weeks after a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, followed by military operations in the West Bank.
On Monday, Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel for the first time in months, and Israel responded with airstrikes. These followed days of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem.
Noam Nisan, one of the organizers of the planned march, told Kan public radio that it would proceed as planned on Wednesday.
“A Jew with a flag in Jerusalem is not a provocation," he said.
He said that the demonstration was a response to buses being stoned earlier this week while driving to the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, located in Jerusalem's Old City.
