DayofPal—Israeli ministers and lawmakers led en masse settler incursions into the occupied city of Jerusalem ahead of the provocative Flag March, as Israeli forces restrict Palestinians access, yesterday.
The raids came as Israeli forces violently blocked Palestinian worshippers from accessing the Jerusalem holy site while facilitating en masse settler raids ahead of the annual “Flag March” through the Old City.
Jerusalem’s Old City was placed under near-total lockdown to accommodate the marches and incursions, with Palestinian-owned shops forced to shut and residents ordered indoors.
The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, which administers Al-Aqsa Mosque, reported that security barriers and restrictions are tighter than ever before.
Since dawn prayers, Israeli authorities imposed strict measures at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, with Israeli forces searching worshippers and attempting to reach the site, confiscating ID cards, and barring men under 60 and women under 50 from entering.
Local sources said the worshippers were assaulted, shoved and beaten at several mosque gates. Shortly after dawn prayers ended, the mosque was largely emptied of Palestinians, except for a small number of Waqf staff.
Large groups of ultranationalist Israelis then raided the site under heavy police guard.
At least 800 Israel settlers stormed the site during the morning, with further groups expected later in the day.
During the incursions, participants performed talmudic rituals and prayers and raised Israeli flags inside the mosque courtyard, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other lawmakers.
A lawmaker declared it was time to demolish the site and build a Jewish temple in its place.
“We restored governance on the Temple Mount thanks to determination and deterrence,” Ben Gvir said. “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”
Yitzhak Kroizer, am MP from the same party, stood alongside Ben Gvir as they danced and sang next to the Dome of the Rock.
“The time has come to get rid of all the mosques and work to construct the Temple!” Kroizer later wrote on Facebook.
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, another minister, said “Jews no longer walk around the Temple Mount like thieves and no longer need to hide” during the raid.
Among those taking part in the raids was Ariel Kallner, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
A centuries-old status quo, recognized internationally, designates Al-Aqsa as an exclusively Muslim place of worship under the administration of the Islamic Waqf, which has authority over access, prayer and maintenance.
Israel has increasingly eroded the arrangement by allowing near-daily settler incursions and public Jewish prayers at the site, while sidelining the Waqf’s authority and heavily restricting Muslim access to the mosque.
The large-scale raids come as Israel marks “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and its subsequent “unification” with West Jerusalem, seized by Zionist militia during the 1948 Nakba.
Alongside the incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem Day celebrations include the controversial “Flag March”, which passes through the Old City, including Palestinian-majority neighbourhoods.
The march has frequently been marked by racist and Islamophobic chants, assaults on Palestinian residents, and attacks on Palestinian property.
This year’s Jerusalem Day events begin at sunset on Thursday and end at nightfall on Friday, coinciding with Nakba Day, which commemorates the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militia during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
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