Tens of thousands of flag-waving Israelis on Sunday marched through Jerusalem to mark their country’s capture of the city’s east in a 1967 war, with tensions heightened due to the holiday coinciding with the final days of Ramadan.
The march, including a large contingent of Jewish religious nationalists, passed under heavy security through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City in what Palestinians see as a provocation.
About 3,000 police were deployed, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Photo: AP
“We came to celebrate the day,” said Rina Ben Shimol, who came with her husband and their three young children from Kfar Tavor in northern Israel. “It is Zionism and it’s to strengthen the link with our origins and with the country.”
Earlier in the day, Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque, also located in the Old City in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.
Muslim worshippers at the mosque compound were angered over Jewish visits to the site — which is holy to both religions — in the final days of Ramadan.
According to police, protesters barricaded themselves in the mosque, from where they threw chairs and stones at forces who “dispersed” them.
The Muslim Waqf organization which oversees the site said police used rubber bullets and pepper spray, adding that seven people were arrested and 45 were wounded.
It said police shut the mosque’s doors and chained them.
Al-Aqsa mosque director Omar al-Kiswani accused Israel of violating an agreement not to allow such visits during the last days of Ramadan.
He said about 1,200 Jews visited the site on Sunday, while a Jewish organization that arranges visits there reported a similar number.
Jews are allowed to visit the site during set hours, but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions.
Jewish visits to the site, particularly by religious nationalists, usually increase for Jerusalem Dya.
Yesterday’s Jerusalem Day march culminated in celebrations at the Western Wall, which is below the Al-Aqsa compound and is the holiest site where Jews can pray.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese