JERUSALEM: Israeli far-right nationalists began a flag-waving march through East Jerusalem on Tuesday that risks reigniting tensions with Palestinians and poses an early challenge for Israel's new government.
Last month, Israeli-Palestinian tensions and violence in contested Jerusalem helped trigger 11 days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group.
On Tuesday, Israeli police in riot gear and on horseback cordoned off areas leading to the walled Old City's flashpoint Damascus Gate, clearing the area of Palestinians ahead of a congregation of right-wing demonstrators in the neighbourhood.
Police were expected to prevent marchers from going through the Damascus Gate, the main entry to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, which is also home to shrines sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity and is the most sensitive site in the more than 70-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Jerusalem is for all religions, but Jerusalem is in Israel. And in Israel, we must be able to go wherever we want, with our flag," said marcher Doron Avrahami, 50, channelling right-wing frustrations with police restrictions.
Assailing the march as a "provocation", Palestinians called for "Day of Rage" protests in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank with memories still fresh of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinians during the Muslim holy 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," Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in areas near the Damascus Gate and at least five were injured in clashes with Israeli police firing stun grenades, the Palestine 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.
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.
Bennett heads a far-right party, and diverting the procession could anger members of his religious base and expose him to accusations he was giving Hamas veto power over events in Jerusalem.
The event was originally scheduled for May 10 as part of "Jerusalem Day" festivities that celebrate Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
At the last minute, that march was diverted away from the Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter, but the move was not enough to dissuade Hamas from firing rockets towards Jerusalem.
Sitting on a bench outside the police cordon, Khalil Mitwani, a 50-year-old Palestinian, said of the marchers: "They are making a big problem in Jerusalem. All the people here want peace - why make problems here?"
Diplomats urged restraint by all sides.
"Tensions (are) rising again in Jerusalem at a very fragile & sensitive security & political time, when UN & Egypt are actively engaged in solidifying the ceasefire," UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said on Twitter.
He called on all sides to "act responsibly & avoid any provocations that could lead to another round of confrontation".
Israel, which occupied and later annexed East Jerusalem in a move that has not won international recognition, regards the entire city as its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza.
Israeli nationalists march in East Jerusalem under heavy police presence
https://arab.news/m7av2
Israeli nationalists march in East Jerusalem under heavy police presence
- Mansour Abbas said the march was “an attempt to set the region on fire for political aims”
- Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned it as a provocation
US officials say Gaza stabilization force will not fight Hamas
- An American two-star general is under consideration to lead the ISF, but no decision has been made, officials said
NEW YORK: International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month to form a UN-authorized stabilization force, two US officials said, but it remains unclear how Hamas will be disarmed.
Officials said the International Stabilization Force, or ISF, would not fight Hamas.
They said many countries have expressed interest in contributing, and US officials are currently working out the size of the ISF, its composition, housing, training, and rules of engagement.
There is a lot of quiet planning that’s going on behind the scenes right now for phase two of the peace deal.
Karoline Leavitt, White House spokesperson
An American two-star general is under consideration to lead the ISF, but no decision has been made, officials said.
Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Under the first phase, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year war began on Oct.10, and Hamas released hostages, and Israel freed detained Palestinians.
“There is a lot of quiet planning that’s going on behind the scenes right now for phase two of the peace deal,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
“We want to ensure an enduring and lasting peace.”
Indonesia has said it is prepared to deploy up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-related tasks in Gaza.
“It is still in the planning and preparation stages,” said Rico Sirait, spokesperson of the Indonesian Defense Ministry.
“We are now preparing the organizational structure of the forces to be deployed.”
Israel still controls 53 percent of Gaza, while nearly all the 2 million people in the enclave live in the remaining Hamas-held area. The plan — which needs to be finalized by the so-called Board of Peace — is for the ISF to deploy in the area held by Israel, the US officials said.
Then, according to the Trump peace plan, as the ISF establishes control and stability, Israeli troops will gradually withdraw “based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization.”
A UN Security Council resolution adopted on Nov. 17 authorized a Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish the ISF.
Trump said on Wednesday that an announcement on which world leaders will serve on the Board of Peace will be made early next year.
The Security Council authorized the ISF to work alongside newly trained and vetted Palestinian police to stabilize security “by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”
However, it remains unclear exactly how that would work.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz noted on Thursday that the Security Council authorized the ISF to demilitarize Gaza by all means necessary, which means the use of force.
“Obviously, that’ll be a conversation with each country,” he told Israel’s Channel 12, adding that discussions on rules of engagement were underway.
Hamas has said the issue of disarmament has not been discussed with them formally by the mediators — the US, Egypt, and Qatar — and the group’s stance remains that it will not disarm until a Palestinian state is established.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Sunday that the second phase would move toward demilitarization and disarmament.
“Now that raises a question: Our friends in America want to try and establish a multinational task force to do the job,” he said. “I told them I welcome it. Are volunteers here? Be my guest,” Netanyahu said.
“We know there are certain tasks that this force can perform ... but some things are beyond their abilities, and perhaps the main thing is beyond their abilities, but we will see about that,” he said.
