Jerusalem: Journalists attacked as Israeli nationalists march in Old City

Thousands of Israeli nationalists have been marching into the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, with violence directed at media covering the event.

The flag parade is part of Israel's Jerusalem Day, marking its capture of the east of the city in the 1967 war.

A group of marchers threw stones, sticks and bottles at Palestinian and foreign journalists at the Damascus Gate entrance.

They also cheered and chanted racist slogans, including "Death to Arabs".

Far-right Israeli cabinet ministers have joined the procession. One of them, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, declared: "Jerusalem is ours for ever."

Palestinians along the route in occupied East Jerusalem earlier shuttered homes and shops over fears of abuse.

The march has increasingly become a show of force for Jewish ultranationalists, while for Palestinians it is seen as a blatant provocation undermining their ties to the city.

Racist, anti-Arab chants are often shouted by nationalist marchers. The event has in the past sparked much wider violence.

Israeli police have vowed to stop law-breaking, but blamed regional "terrorist elements" for "wild incitement" about the march on social media. They also said it was only "a small minority on both sides [who] try to agitate".

Palestinian Authority leaders called the East Jerusalem events a "provocative act", saying far-right cabinet ministers Mr Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich - staunch supporters of the parade - were "planting seeds of conflict".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the event would go ahead as planned and police said it would take place along its traditional route.

Along the route in the Old City, Samir Abu Sbeih pulled down the shutters of his sweet shop, saying that police had advised Palestinian businesses to do so by mid-afternoon.

"It's not their land to celebrate," he said of the march. "We live under occupation and that's why we have to accept it."

Kebab restaurant owner Basti, who did not want to give his full name, said the event had become "worse" over the years.

"People, when they dance with the flag, sometimes they try to put the flag in your face, sometimes they spit on your face. And this is not nice."

He said police told him he was not being forced to close, but that if he kept his business open, it would be at his own risk.

"For me, I just want to be inside. I don't like problems, for both sides," he said.

Jerusalem Day events have been marked by Israelis for decades, but in recent years, parts of the route have been the focus of spiralling tensions.

In the late afternoon, tens of thousands of Israelis head from the west of Jerusalem to the Old City, ending with a so-called flag dance at the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jewish prayer.

Before that, marchers go their separate ways and thousands of mainly men and teenage boys head into East Jerusalem.

They walk through Damascus Gate, which Israeli forces usually clear of Palestinians in advance, and then into the Old City's Muslim Quarter.

Previous years have seen groups of marchers chant "death to Arabs" and "may your village burn", while others banged the shutters of Palestinian shops.

One of the marchers, Pini, who didn't want to give his surname, said he had attended for decades to mark the day "Jerusalem was reunited and returned to the hands of the Jewish people".

"From 1948 to 1967, we were prevented from accessing the Western Wall," he said referring to the period that East Jerusalem was under Jordanian control. "We returned to the Western Wall," he added.

Asked about a threatening atmosphere for Palestinians, he said he opposed any harassment. But, echoing highly controversial comments this year from a far-right minister, he added: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people; when was Palestine established? Is there a Palestinian king? Is there a Palestinian currency?"

Palestinian militant group Hamas warned Israel this week that it would reignite conflict, were it to cross "red lines" in Jerusalem during the event.

On flag march day in 2021, the group fired rockets at Jerusalem from the Gaza Strip as a week of boiling tensions exploded into war.

However, this year, with another round of conflict between Israel and Gaza militants ending only last weekend, appetite for escalation so far appears lower.