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“Flag March is an abomination,” says Daniel Seidemann, a lawyer who has spent his life studying Jerusalem and its role at the heart of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
He is deeply worried about Wednesday, when tens of thousands of Israelis will join the ultranationalist march through the most sensitive district of the city as part of events for Jerusalem Day, which commemorates Israel's full capture of the city in 1967.
“Every year it’s an abomination: the shouts of abuse, the raging through Al Wad Street, far-right Israelis pounding on doors behind which Palestinians are cowering,” Mr Seidemann adds.
“The police announcing they won’t do anything in response to chants, which include ‘death to Arabs’ and ‘may your villages burn’ and not one public figure in Israel condemning them.”
Mr Seidemann is speaking to The National the day before this year’s Flag March, which traditionally goes through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The route passes Al Aqsa Mosque – the third holiest site in Islam that many of the marchers want to replace with a third Jewish temple.
The event always causes extreme tension, not only for Palestinians but for people across the Middle East.
In 2021, tensions over the Flag March helped spark 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
This year it comes after nearly eight months of a far worse conflict in Gaza which has also dragged the occupied West Bank to the brink of explosion and pushed Israel and Hezbollah to the verge of war.
Jerusalem has stayed relatively calm, at least in comparison with the violence of these other arenas.
But there is a chance tomorrow's march might change that. If it does, the ramifications would be huge, Mr Seidemann says.
“This year is special circumstances. If I was asked to evaluate what the odds are of violence in Jerusalem, I would say it’s gone from 4 per cent to 8 per cent, so it likely won’t explode, but it’s far from impossible,” he says.
“If it does explode, that’s a regional war.”
Sami Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and chairman of the opposition party Balad, says Jerusalem Day is “the most racist day on the Israeli calendar, because it touches the most sacred and sensitive issue for Palestinians: Al Aqsa Mosque”.
He believes far-right politicians in the current government, particularly National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, want the day to spark a regional war.
“Ben Gvir is a pyromaniac and a very dangerous man for Israelis, Palestinians and the Middle East,” Mr Abu Shehadeh says.
Mr Ben Gvir vowed in an interview on Tuesday morning to go to the Al Aqsa compound on Jerusalem Day.
“I wish Itamar Ben Gvir was the only issue: a racist, crazy, pyromaniac. The problem is he’s a minister in the Israeli government, within which you don’t find anyone attacking his dangerous, racist behaviour,” Mr Abu Shehadeh says.
“It gives you a feeling that there is a consensus on racism and provocation.”
Mr Ben Gvir might be the politician most closely associated with the Flag March, but both Mr Seidemann and Mr Abu Shehadeh lay blame for the risk it poses at the feet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The decision of whether Ben Gvir is to go to Al Aqsa tomorrow is not his, it’s Netanyahu’s,” Mr Seidemann says.
“This is not something that any responsible government would allow to happen under these circumstances.”
Mr Seidemann stresses that Jerusalem has weathered other tense moments since the latest Gaza war began on October 7.
“There was another far-right march that was supposed to take place in December, but under high-level international pressure was cancelled. There was Ramadan, but that was kept calm. There are any number of dangerous episodes that have taken place. This is one of the more serious ones.”
Mr Abu Shehadeh feels that events have reached a point where the Flag March is unlikely to make things worse.
“There is nothing uniquely worse about Flag March. Terrible things have been happening every day since October 7. Not just in terms of war crimes in Gaza but all over the West Bank and Jerusalem. Palestinians are being killed daily. So I don’t expect tomorrow to be worse – the situation is already bad enough.”
Israel's police said they would deploy more than 3,000 officers for the march and that they “will act decisively against any attempt to disrupt order and law”.
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Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
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'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'
Rating: 3/5
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
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1. Featherweight 66kg
Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg
Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg
Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg
Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg
Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg
Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg
Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg
Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Abdipatta Abdizhali (KGZ)
9. Featherweight 66kg
Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
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Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
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Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper)
Last-16
France 4
Griezmann (13' pen), Pavard (57'), Mbappe (64', 68')
Argentina 3
Di Maria (41'), Mercado (48'), Aguero (90 3')
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)