Some Israelis chant, ‘Death to Arabs’ and ‘May your village burn,’ as they march through Jerusalem’s Old City.
Right-wing Israelis in Jerusalem have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a United Nations facility for Palestinian refugees as an annual march took place marking Israel’s conquest of the eastern part of the city.
Some Israelis chanted, “Death to Arabs” and “May your village burn,” as they marched through the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday, going through the Muslim quarter to mark “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the Israeli occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war.
Thousands of heavily armed police and border police were dispatched in advance because settlers regularly assault, attack and harass Palestinians and shops in the Muslim quarter. The settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.
Groups of young people, some carrying Israeli flags, were seen on Monday confronting Palestinian shopkeepers, passers-by and schoolchildren as well as Israeli rights activists and police, at times spitting on people, lobbing insults and trying to force their way into houses.
Police detained at least two youths, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
A small group of those rallying, including an Israeli member of parliament, stormed a compound in East Jerusalem belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Israel has banned the agency from working in occupied Palestinian territory and in Israel, impacting the life-saving work that it has been carrying out for more than 70 years in areas that include the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.
UNRWA West Bank coordinator Roland Friedrich said about a dozen Israeli protesters, including Yulia Malinovsky, one of the legislators behind an Israeli law that banned UNRWA, entered the compound, climbing its main gate in view of Israeli police.
Last year’s procession, held during the first year of Israel’s assault on Gaza, saw ultranationalist Israelis attack a Palestinian journalist in the Old City and call for violence against Palestinians. And four years ago, the march contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day war in Gaza.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and other politicians were among more than 2,000 Israelis who stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and surrounding areas.
Ben-Gvir released a video on his X account from the site – Islam’s third holiest – saying he “prayed for victory in the war, for the return of all our hostages, and for the success of the newly-appointed head of the Shin Bet – Major General David Zini”.
Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Vaserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer were among those accompanying the ultranationalist minister.
Backed by armed police, Ben-Gvir has carried out similar provocative moves in the compound before, often at sensitive junctures in Israel’s war on Gaza, to advocate for increased military pressure and to block all humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
The Jerusalem Waqf – the Islamic authority that oversees the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) – decried the storming of the compound by Ben-Gvir and other members of the Israeli Knesset and called for a halt to all “provocative activities” in the area.
Under the management of the Jordan-appointed Waqf, only Muslims are allowed to pray at the compound.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the march is aimed at asserting Israeli dominance over the city.
“Videos show Israeli citizens inside the Old City of Jerusalem attacking Palestinian shops and throwing objects at them,” Ibrahim said, reporting from Doha, Qatar as Al Jazeera has been banned from reporting in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
“This is again a reminder that no one has immunity.”