Clashes as right-wing Israelis march in Jerusalem
Thousands of flag-waving Israelis on Sunday marched through Jerusalem's Old City during a nationalist procession that regularly stokes Palestinian anger, a year after Jerusalem tensions exploded into war. About 70,000 Jewish Israelis paraded through the streets, police said, for an annual "flag march" marking Israel's 1967 capture of east Jerusalem. Some marchers chanted "death to Arabs", as a number of Palestinians hurled projectiles from the rooftops. Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid described far-right Jewish groups who taunted Arabs – specifically the Lehava and La Familia extremist organisations – as a "disgrace", saying they "aren't worthy of holding the Israeli flag". Prime Minister Naftali Bennett ordered police to show "zero tolerance" towards Jewish extremists who planned to "incite" tensions, singling out La Familia. More than 3,000 police officers were deployed across Jerusalem, reporting more than 60 arrests over "disorderly conduct". The Palestinian Red Crescent said 79 Palestinians were injured in and around the Old City. Around annexed east Jerusalem, many Palestinians flew flags, with police clashing with the protesters carrying them. Above one of the Old City gates, a Palestinian flag was flown from a drone, which police shot down, an AFP photographer said. During the march, thousands of Jewish Israelis – overwhelmingly men, and many of them youths – poured through Damascus Gate, the main Old City thoroughfare used by Palestinians and of huge symbolic importance. "This is our country, and that's it," 18-year-old Jewish Israeli Ofer Amar said at Damascus Gate. "The Palestinians are guests in our country." Most of the international community does not recognise Israeli control over east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of a future state. (AFP)