Israel deploys extra police forces ahead of flag march in Jerusalem

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli police will deploy 2,000 forces on Tuesday to provide protection to participants in a planned flag march across occupied East Jerusalem.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, the police forces will be deployed in the vicinity of the routes that the participants will take during the march.

The broadcaster said Israeli police also decided to reinforce their forces in the mixed cities and the Wadi Ara area inside Israel in anticipation of violence over the march.

The flag march was approved by Israeli Minister of Internal Security Omer Bar-Lev on Monday evening.

Groups from the Israeli right-wing have called for participation in the march that passes along the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, and stops at Bab al-Amud before continuing to the Al-Aqsa's al-Buraq Wall known to Jews as the "Western Wall".

Meanwhile, Palestinian factions have called on the Palestinians to gather in the Bab al-Amoud area, one of the gates of the Old City in East Jerusalem, at the time of the march.

On Monday, the Joint List, an alliance of four Arab Israeli political parties, called on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Bar-Lev to cancel the march.

The march includes what is known as the "flag dance", during which participants dance while carrying the Israeli flag at Bab al-Amud, one of the gates of Jerusalem’s Old City.

The march was scheduled to be organized last month on the occasion of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew calendar, but it was postponed due to the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian officials and parties have warned of the consequences of allowing the flag march, holding the Israeli government responsible for its repercussions.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat