GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (Dispatches) — The ruling Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday called on Palestinians to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Zionists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Al-Quds’ Old City.
Two years ago, an 11-day war between Zionist regime and Hamas erupted during the annual march.
While Hamas stayed out of the latest round of fighting, officials with the resistance movement urged Palestinians to oppose Thursday’s parade.
“We ask the people of Al-Quds to mobilize the masses to confront the march of the flags in Al-Quds tomorrow,” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official in Gaza.
Hamas also urged Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and inside Occupied Palestine to “clash with the occupation” and said it would hold a demonstration with Palestinian flags along Gaza’s heavily fortified fence separating the besieged territory from the occupied lands.
The parade is meant to mark the Zionist regime’s annual celebration of its occupation of east Al-Quds, including the Old City and its holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Zionist regime considers the entire city to be its eternal capital. But the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of east Al-Quds, and the Palestinians claim the area as the capital of a future state.
Each year, thousands of Zionist extremists participate in the march, waving flags and singing songs as they walk through the Muslim Quarter and toward the Western Wall.
Zionists describe the parade as a festive event. But in past years, it has been marred by anti-Arab racist chants and violence toward local Palestinians by the marchers.
Adding to the combustible atmosphere,
large numbers of Zionists are expected to visit Al-Quds’ most sensitive holy site early Thursday before the parade.
The hilltop compound is known to Palestinians as the Noble Sanctuary, and today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Under longstanding agreements, Jews are permitted to visit the compound but not pray there. But an increase in such visits in recent years, along with scenes of some Jews quietly praying, have raised concerns among Palestinians that the Zionist regime is trying to alter the status quo.
Chief Supt Yoram Segal, a senior police official in Al-Quds, said police would deploy some 2,500 officers on Thursday.
The march comes less than a week after Israel and the Islamic Jihad resistance movement in Gaza reached a ceasefire that ended five days of heavy fighting.
If violence erupts in Al-Quds, Hamas could jump into the fray, as it did two years ago.
“The resistance is ready to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevent the Judaization of Jerusalem,” al-Masri said.