Thousands of participants from across the country are expected to participate in the controversial flag march Tuesday afternoon in Jerusalem which has heightened tensions in the capital and sparked concerns of renewed conflict with Hamas and inter-communal tensions in Israel.
At least 2,000 police officers were deployed to secure the event, organized by nationalist, right-wing and religious groups, while police forces are being readied for deployment to mixed Jewish-Arab cities should violence erupt again, as was seen last month following conflict on the Temple Mount and during the subsequent conflict with Hamas.
The route of the march is passing through the Arab market which lies on the seam line of the Muslim and Jewish Quarters of the Old City.
Participants in the march are coming from around the country, with buses bringing marchers from at least 29 locations, including numerous settlements in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], as well as Beersheba, Beit She'an, Petah Tikva, Bat Yam, and beyond.
The route of the march usually starts at Damascus Gate and wends its way through the Muslim Quarter and out to the Western Wall plaza in the Jewish Quarter.
But the approved route for Monday’s march takes the procession largely away from the Muslim Quarter, in an effort to reduce friction between the marchers and Arab residents of the Old City.
The new route will see the parade dance in front of the Damascus Gate, but then proceed outside the Old City’s walls to the Jaffa Gate, and down David Street and Chain Gate Street where the Arab market is situated, and finally into the Western Wall plaza.
The event is being organized by a collection of right-wing and religious organizations, including Im Tirtzu, the Bnei Akiva, Ezra, and Ariel religious-Zionist youth movements, as well as several regional councils in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).