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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-police-crackdown-ahead-far-right-march">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli police crack down on Palestinians ahead of 'provocative' far-right march</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By MEE staff - May 26, 2022<br></div>
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<div><img src="cid:ii_l3nf6uhn0" alt="image.png" width="460" height="310"><br><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>
police carried out large-scale arrests in occupied East Jerusalem on
Thursday ahead of an Israeli far-right march scheduled for Sunday.</p>
<p>According to local <a href="https://www.arab48.com/%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/2022/05/26/%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%89-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%A8%D9%82-%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-" target="_blank">media</a>,
Israeli police detained more than 100 Palestinians this week in
Jerusalem, while dozens of residents have been temporarily expelled from
the city and al-Aqsa Mosque. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'The decision is in the hands of the Israelis and the international
community. They can avoid a war and escalation if they stop this mad
[march]'</p>
<p><em>- Bassem Naim, Hamas official</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, Israeli settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque from the side of
the Mughrabi Gate on Thursday, and, guarded by Israeli police, performed
religious rituals in its courtyards.</p>
<p>The Flag March is usually held on Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel's
capture and subsequent occupation of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle
East war.</p>
<p>Last year’s Flag March was <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-jerusalem-far-right-march-old-city-beatings-arrests" target="_blank">postponed</a>
for about a month after Hamas fired four rockets from the besieged Gaza
Strip onto the outskirts of Jerusalem on 10 May, following violent
Israeli raids on Al-Aqsa and attempts to evict Palestinians from the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/sheikh-jarrah" target="_blank">Sheikh Jarrah</a> neighbourhood to make way for Israeli settlers. Israel responded with a deadly 11-day Israeli <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/gaza-under-attack" target="_blank">offensive on Gaza</a> which killed at least 260 Palestinians.</p>
<p>Israel's control of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, is
considered illegal under international law, which stipulate that an
occupying power has no sovereignty in the territory it occupies and
cannot make any permanent changes there. </p>
<div><p>Israeli settlers and far-right activists, protected by the police, have been storming al-Aqsa Mosque on an almost daily basis. </p><p>
Such incursions are organised by "Temple Mount" groups who have pushed
for an increased Jewish presence at the site and advocate the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/Israeli%20far-right%20group%20calls%20for%20dismantling%20Dome%20of%20the%20Rock%20on%20'Jerusalem%20Day'" target="_blank">destruction of al-Aqsa Mosque</a> and the Dome of the Rock to make way for a Third Temple.</p></div>
<p>Last week, Israeli authorities approved the annual march to pass
through Jerusalem's Damascus Gate and the Old City’s Muslim quarter,
drawing condemnations from the Palestinian Authority and activists.</p>
<p>The Palestinian foreign ministry called the decision to approve the
event "provocative, aggressive, and an integral part of the open
occupation war against Jerusalem, its citizens, and its sanctities."</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/israeli-flag-march-explained#autoplay" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/video_thumbnails/qBYlQblgOFQ.jpg?itok=piUkeV8i" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p><font size="1">The Israeli ‘Flag March’ explained</font></p>
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<p>A senior Hamas politician on Thursday told Reuters that his movement,
which rules the Gaza Strip and has a military wing, and other
Palestinian groups are “ready to do all they can” to prevent the march.</p>
<p>"The decision is in the hands of the Israelis and the international
community. They can avoid a war and escalation if they stop this mad
(march)," Bassem Naim said.</p>
<p>"This march can be cancelled. It is a political step. It has nothing to do with religion."</p>
<p>The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah party, Hassan Nasrallah, also warned against allowing the march.</p>
<p>“I want to tell the enemy’s government… and those concerned with the
regional situation. Any violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of
the Rock will blow apart the region,” he said in a speech. “It will
provoke all the Arab and Islamic peoples and every free person.”</p>
<p>A statement by the Israeli police to Arabic media said that the
police Commissioner-General Yaakov Shabtai has ordered police units to
prepare for "a state of high alert".</p>
<p>Some 3,000 police and border guards will be deployed in Jerusalem on
Sunday, it said, "to ensure the procession along with thousands of
policemen who will operate across the country, including mixed cities
and towns."</p>
<p>It added that police forces are carrying out "wide-ranging preventive
activities" in Jerusalem and beyond, including the arrest of dozens
suspected of "inciting and planning riots".</p>
<h3>Court rules against Jewish prayer in al-Aqsa</h3>
<p>The crackdown on Palestinians comes after an Israeli appeals court
quashed a ruling allowing Jewish prayer on al-Aqsa compound in
Jerusalem, a move which had provoked heavy criticism from Palestinians.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court overturned a police
restraining order against three Israeli far-right activists for praying
at al-Aqsa Mosque in violation of a longstanding understanding between
Israel and Jordan, which administers the mosque.</p>
<p>As part of the delicate decades-old arrangement, non-Muslims are
allowed to visit al-Aqsa under the supervision of the Waqf, a joint
Jordanian-Palestinian Islamic trust that manages the affairs of the
mosque.</p>
<p>However, only Muslims are allowed to pray in the courtyards and prayer halls of the mosque.</p>
<p>The three appealed the ban to the magistrate's court, which ruled in their favour. </p>
<p>Judge Zion Saharai, while noting he did not intend to interfere in
law enforcement policy, said they had not "raise(d) worry of harm
befalling national security, public safety or individual security".</p>
<p>On Thursday, however, his ruling was overturned by the Jerusalem District Court after a counter-appeal from the state.</p>
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