Gaza: The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement said that organising an Israeli flag march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday will ignite a new round of tension.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza Abdulatif al-Qanou’a said in a statement that organising “the so-called flag march is just a detonator for the breaking out of a new battle in Palestine”, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The so-called flag march that is intended to be organised by the settlers on the streets of Jerusalem will lead to a new battle to defend the holy city and al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.
Ahmad al-Mudalal, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said that if the settlers’ flag march enters the Islamic neighbourhood in Jerusalem on Tuesday, “it will lead to a state of rage and uprising in the entire Palestinian territories”.
According to the organisers, the march will begin on Tuesday at HaNevi’im St. and head toward Damascus Gate, The Times of Israel reported.
The participants will not enter through that Old City entrance, but instead will head toward the Jaffa Gate, the organisers said in a statement.
Participants will then march from Jaffa Gate toward the Western Wall through the Old City, they added.
The annual event brings together thousands of Jews march through Muslim-majority parts of Jerusalem toward the Western Wall, in a show of sovereignty to mark the Hebrew anniversary of the city’s east side being captured by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967.