Israeli security forces are on high alert throughout the country preparing for a possible eruption of violence or rocket fire after a parade of Israeli flags in Jerusalem was given the go-ahead to proceed.
The event is being allowed despite calls from Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups to let Tuesday be “a day of mobilization and a bond towards al-Aqsa Mosque, and a day of anger and defiance of the occupier.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz reviewed the security situation on Monday ahead of the march and said it was important to prevent friction between Jews and Arabs.
The annual Flag Parade is usually held on Jerusalem Day and traces the route through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem that the Israeli paratroopers took during the 1967 Six-Day War. That’s when Israel reunited the city under its control and re-captured the biblical Temple Mount for the first time in 2,000 years.
This year the parade was interrupted while it was in progress when Hamas launched rockets toward Jerusalem.
The route of the parade has been altered. Participants will march to the Damascus Gate in eastern Jerusalem. Then a limited number will be allowed to dance waving the flags and the rest will proceed along the Old City Walls to the Jaffa Gate. Once inside, some will proceed through the Arab market, while others will go through the Jewish Quarter.
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