Israel to allow right-wing march through Jerusalem’s Old City

Tel Aviv, June 9 (RHC)-- Israel’s outgoing government has said a controversial march by far-right nationalists and pro-settler groups through occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City will go ahead next week, a decision taken a day after the event was scrapped due to security concerns.roversial Israeli ‘Flag March’ through Jerusalem gets green light from security council

Several right-wing Israeli groups had planned a so-called “March of the Flags” through the walled Old City’s Damascus Gate and into its Muslim quarter on Thursday, drawing warnings from Hamas – the group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip – of renewed hostilities should it proceed.

The far-right groups cancelled the march after police denied them a permit. But following a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Tuesday, his office said ministers had approved the march to be held next week.

“The parade will take place this coming Tuesday (June 15) in a format to be agreed between the police and the parade’s organisers,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

A top Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, had warned Israel on Monday “against letting the march approach East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.”  “We hope the message is clear so that Thursday doesn’t become [a new] May 10,” he said, referring to the start of last month’s 11-day fighting between Israel and Hamas.

At least 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed in Israeli bombardment according to health authorities in Gaza, while Israeli officials said 12 people in Israel included two children, were killed in Israel by rocket attacks carried out by armed groups based in Gaza.

The Israeli raids on Gaza come after weeks of mounting tension about the looming forced displacement of several Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem that Jewish settlers have been trying to expel them from for decades.

The situation escalated when Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City – the third-holiest site in Islam – and injured hundreds of Palestinian worshippers during several days of violence.