Sunday saw Jerusalem being thrown into a state of trepidation as some Palestinian groups have threatened to retaliate over the annual rally that sparked a war last year.
Israel deployed 3,000 police on the day that marks its 1967 capture of east Jerusalem, home of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound located on what Jews revere as the Temple Mount.
Flag-waving Jewish nationalists chanting pro-Israel slogans, among them a far-right lawmaker, in the morning visited Al-Aqsa, where Israeli police said several Palestinians threw rocks toward the officers. Isolated clashes also broke out at the Old City’s Damascus Gate where dozens of Jewish nationalists danced in front of Palestinians, one of whom raised his shoe in an Arab insult. Police reported 18 arrests over “disorderly conduct”.
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Across annexed east Jerusalem, many Palestinian flags flew from rooftops ahead of the “Jerusalem Day” march due to start at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).
The march last year sparked unrest that led the Islamist armed group Hamas to fire rockets from the blockaded Gaza Strip, triggering an 11-day war. Hamas warned last week that marchers must not pass through the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, saying it would use all means to confront them.
The route of the march has never included Al-Aqsa, a site which Jewish groups are permitted to visit but where they are not allowed to pray. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday the march would be held “along the regular route” and urged participants to be “respectful”.
Police said that in the morning some 1,800 people ascended to the compound during a regular visitation window — more than normal, but made up mostly of tourists. Some Jews had “violated visitation rules” and several people were detained, police said without providing further details, before the day’s time window for visits concluded.
One group sang pro-Israel chants including “Yerushalayim rak shelanou” or “Jerusalem belongs to us only”.
