by Shahar Klaiman and i24NEWS
The route of the controversial parade, already postponed twice over security concerns, will mostly avoid the Damascus Gate and the Old City's Muslim Quarter, which could prove to be flashpoints for potential violence.
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| The 2017 Jerusalem Day flag march outside the Old City | File photo: Dudi Vaaknin |
The Jerusalem Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, warned Sunday that if the controversial flag march takes place in Jerusalem on Tuesday, the situation on the ground could "explode."
The PLO cautioned that unrest could extend beyond Jerusalem to the Palestinian territories if the march takes place, saying that the "occupation authorities" have not learned from the political changes in the region and internationally.
Organizers of Tuesday's Jerusalem flag march announced on Friday that an agreement was reached with police on an altered route that will mostly avoid the Damascus Gate and the Old City's Muslim Quarter – areas that could prove to be flashpoints for potential violence.
The parade, celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War usually takes place on Jerusalem Day, which this year fell on May 10, but was postponed when Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem, sparking 11 days of hostilities.
The rescheduled march for this week was then again postponed over the induction of the new Israeli government.
Israeli security forces on Thursday arrested at least 14 people after disturbances following a press conference by a right-wing Israeli lawmaker denouncing restrictions on the march.
Scuffles flared after Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, spoke outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, a site that has seen repeated clashes in recent months between Israeli security forces and Palestinian rioters.
Hamas on Sunday urged Palestinian across Gaza and the West Bank to stage a "day of rage" on Tuesday, should the flag march take place.
A statement by the terrorist group ruling the coastal enclave called on the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to flock to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and riot.
Hamas warned that "the occupier has re-released his stray hordes to defile the alleys and roads of Old Jerusalem, and to hoist the flags of the fleeting [Zionist] entity, in a move that only reflects its failure and regression."
Shahar Klaiman and i24NEWS
Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/06/14/hamas-pa-warn-of-explosion-if-jerusalem-flag-march-goes-ahead/
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