Flag-waving On Sunday, Jewish nationalists will march into the heart of Jerusalem's Muslim district in a parade that might reignite bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians.
The annual Jerusalem march commemorates Israel's 1967 Middle East war victory over Egypt and brings thousands of cheering, singing participants to the Old City's tiny stone alleyways.
For Palestinians, though, the march is a clear provocation and a breach of one of the city's few remaining areas with a distinct Arab flavor, which is becoming boxed in by Jewish expansion and settlement.
At the opening of last year's procession, Hamas, the Islamist organization that administers Gaza, launched missiles into Israel, sparking an 11-day war that killed hundreds.
The organization published a statement on Saturday calling for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, as well as Israel's Arab minority, to "stand up on Sunday to protect Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque," according to the statement.
Despite appeals from some of his own coalition colleagues for a reconsideration of the march, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has so far refused to budge.
"The flag parade will go place as normal along the scheduled path, as it has for decades," his office stated on Friday, adding that it will continue to monitor the situation in the coming hours.
Jerusalem and its sacred sites, which are treasured by Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike, have been at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute for decades.
Israel considers the whole city of Jerusalem to be its everlasting and indivisible capital, whilst Palestinians want the eastern part to be the capital of their future state. Hamas considers all of modern-day Israel to be occupied, despite the fact that it is considered a terrorist organization by Western nations.
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