In the Old City of Jerusalem, a crowd of about 100 French Israelis gathered outside Damascus Gate ahead of the ultranationalist Flag March. With a heavy accent, a woman led chants in Hebrew about the theme of the day: all of Jerusalem, including this majority Palestinian area in the east of the city, belonging to Israel.
Marchers at the front of the pack, a few of them already sunburned, unfurled a large banner that read “Jerusalem is the capital” in French and “Israel is forever”. Behind them was a sea of Israeli flags, flanked by dozens of heavily armed police.
The parade, the main celebration of Jerusalem Day, has become a show of force for Jewish nationalists but is seen by Palestinians as a blatant provocation aimed at undermining their ties to the city.
As crowds of ultranationalist teenagers assembled inside the gate, The National heard the typical chants of the day, “death to Arabs” and “may your names be blotted out”, which have been hurled at the area's residents on this day for years. Two Palestinian children, young boys no older than 12, had to be escorted out of the crowd by police. It did not stop some of the Israelis from shouting “get out” at them.
There were some violent confrontations, mostly between the marchers and journalists and Israeli activists. Very few Palestinians risk leaving their homes on this day.
The National spoke to residents as far away as the Christian Quarter, not a hotspot for violence on recent Jerusalem Days, who were too scared to leave their homes. In the afternoon, one street in the quarter was attacked by ultranationalists, who vandalised a shop and threw its goods at residents.
A far-right Israeli politician, Yitzhak Kroizer, whose party is in the governing coalition, prayed with his family in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the most sensitive flashpoint in Jerusalem, which is supposed to be off limits for any non-Islamic displays under a status quo arrangement.
East Jerusalem is recognised as Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory under international law. Jerusalem Day celebrates Israel’s capture of the city in 1967, when Arab forces were defeated in the eastern part. Israel then declared Jerusalem as its undivided capital, a move that the majority of the international community rejects.
One Palestinian cafe worker, who did not want to be named, rolled his eyes when he started to hear nationalist chants earlier than expected. “I don’t know how I’m going to leave the city,” he told The National.
“This is the worst day of the year,” Jacob Lazarus of Rabbis for Human Rights told The National, standing next to the French group. He was attending alongside a small but committed number of Jewish-Israelis who attend the flag march in solidarity with Palestinian residents of the area. They have received significant abuse from marchers, physical and verbal, in previous years.
This year, the two main groups of peace activists were a loose organisation of people handing out flowers to the locals before they shut themselves away. The largest group present was Standing Together, an Israeli and Palestinian purple bib-wearing activist group that attended for “protective presence”, a practice whereby Israelis attach themselves to Palestinians under threat from state and settler violence.
The rationale is that a Jew being attacked, alongside a Palestinian, is more likely to force the authorities to intervene to break up attacks. By midday, there were videos of the group accompanying Palestinian women and nuns through large crowds of teenage Israeli men singing nationalist songs.
Their work is becoming increasingly dangerous. Last year, a video of an activist bear-hugging a Palestinian who was being mauled went viral. Both were attacked. Standing Together was eventually forced to leave by the police.
They are fighting a losing battle for the soul of their city and nation. Hours before the march even began, they were vastly outnumbered.
