Palestinian officials warned today (Monday) of the danger of the Israeli "flag march" scheduled to be held in the coming days, entering the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

The warnings came in the wake of what was published by the Hebrew radio yesterday (Sunday) that the march of the flags, scheduled for May 18, will pass through the Bab al-Amoud area, which has an Arab majority, and there is no intention to change its normal route.

Israel annually celebrates the Flags’ March on what is known as “Jerusalem Unification Day” after it took control of the east of the city after the 1967 war. Palestinians were injured.

Ahmed Al-Ruwaidi, advisor to the Palestinian Presidential Court, told reporters in Ramallah that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants, by allowing the flag march to enter the Arab neighborhoods, to show that he is the sovereign in the city of Jerusalem.

Al-Ruwaidi considered that conducting the march in the Damascus Gate area represented "a provocation to the feelings of the Palestinians and an escalation of the field conditions" in the city, holding the Israeli government fully responsible for that.

Al-Ruwaidi stressed that the Palestinian leadership rejects the establishment of the march in form and content, considering that it would not have passed without the intense security force in Jerusalem, noting that Palestinian contacts are taking place with various international parties to pressure Israel to change the course of the march.

In turn, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, considered that the march of the flags and the mobilization of the largest possible number of settlers to enter the Arab neighborhoods and shout slogans against the Arabs, and the accompanying incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, are "provocative and aggressive" steps.

Hussein told the official Voice of Palestine radio, "We condemn, denounce, and reject the march of the flags, and all these steps are not accepted by the Palestinian people in any way," stressing that Al-Aqsa Mosque is "a private Islamic place for Muslims alone, and no one participates with them, and it is a place of worship for Muslims alone." ".

Hussein added that any "aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque bears all the consequences of the occupation," calling on the international community and Arab and Islamic countries to confront the march of flags and all measures in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The flag march in 2021 caused military tension between Israel and the Palestinian armed factions, led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which lasted for 11 days and led to the deaths of 260 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

In this regard, Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanou considered that the march of flags in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem "cannot change reality, reverse the facts, or falsify history."

Al-Qanou said in a statement that Jerusalem will remain the capital of "our desired Palestinian state, and we cannot allow the Zionist occupation to pass plans to Judaize Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city through division, sacrifices, flag marches, or Talmudic rituals."

Al-Qanou stressed that the Palestinian people continue to "defend the identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and continue their revolution to thwart any attempt to extend control and impose Zionist sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa."

The Palestinians want to declare the eastern part of Jerusalem, which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque, the capital of their future state, while Israel insists that Jerusalem, which annexed the eastern part of it in 1967, be unified and its capital.