Clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque before contested Israeli flag march

FE Team | Published: May 29, 2022 23:06:13

Israeli security forces clash with a journalist during a rally to mark Jerusalem Day in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday — AFP

JERUSALEM, May 29 (AFP/Reuters): Jerusalem braced for a controversial "flag march" on Sunday as Israelis mobilised to commemorate the city's unification and Palestinian groups threatened retaliation over the annual rally that sparked a war last year.
Hours before the march was to begin, tensions were high in Jerusalem's Old City, where an extreme-right Jewish lawmaker and other Jewish nationalists visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound chanting pro-Israel slogans.
Al-Aqsa is Islam's third holiest place and also Judaism's holiest site.
Israeli police said a small group of Palestinians threw large rocks towards officers from inside the Al-Aqsa mosque. There were no reported injuries.
Last year on what Israelis call "Jerusalem Day," Hamas Islamists fired rockets at the city, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes and triggering an 11-day war between the Jewish state and armed groups in the Gaza Strip, which is blockaded by Israel and ruled by the Hamas movement.
Fighting cost the lives of 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Fourteen people were killed in Israel, including two children, Israeli authorities said.
Hamas warned last week against marchers passing through the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, saying it would use "all possibilities" to confront them.
The path of the march has never included Al-Aqsa, which Jews call the Temple Mount.
A Reuters report adds: Israeli police faced off with Palestinians holed up inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday as hundreds of Jews visited the holy compound ahead of a contentious Jewish nationalist march through the Old City.
The annual Jerusalem procession celebrates Israel's capture of the Old City in the 1967 Middle East war and draws thousands of cheering, chanting participants to its narrow, stone streets.
Palestinian factions have warned that the flag-waving parade through the city's Muslim quarter could re-ignite their decades-old conflict with Israelis at a time of highly charged tensions.
Hours before the procession was due to kick off, police locked some Palestinians inside a mosque on the Al-Aqsa compound as Jewish visitors arrived for daily tours of the compound, which is revered by both Muslims and Jews.
Palestinians threw stones and shot fireworks towards police, who responded with stun grenades.