Throughout the Arab media in East Jerusalem, there are calls being made to prepare for the operation "The Great Dawn: at the Al-Aqsa Mosque" which will take place on Thursday at the same time as the annual Israeli Flag Parade and the ascent to the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the reunification of the city in 1967 and has always ben marked with a Parade through the old city. Palestinian activists call the march to the Temple Mount "settlers breaking into the mosque and marching flags near it" despite no Israeli being allowed to enter the mosques.
Palestinian officials in Jerusalem said that a call was issued to the masses to arrive at the Al-Aqsa Mosque already at dawn in order to avoid the restrictions expected to be imposed on the mountain by the security forces, such as restricting entry and closing the mosque's doors already in the morning.
Jerusalem Day flag march will test Gaza ceasefire https://t.co/GlCww5cQee
— J-Wire (@J_wire) May 16, 2023
In the call that was distributed by the various networks, it was said that the masses should come to Jerusalem to increase their presence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to thwart the "March of the Flags" scheduled to take place on Thursday.
In the message that was distributed, it was further stated that in addition to increasing the mass presence in Jerusalem in general and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular, it is necessary to "hold counter-Palestinian marches, damage buses and private cars of settlers who want to reach Jerusalem and hold confrontations and set fire to the area at the launch points with the army and the police." The Palestinian activists further warned against the activities of activists from the "Return to the Temple Mount extremist group who submitted an official request to allow extremist settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of the Israeli flag march planned for May 18."
Jerusalem Day flag march to test Gaza truce https://t.co/KPMge5gmGs via @JNS_org THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB PROTECT ISRAEL NOW AND ALWAYS.
— Susan Geouge (@SusanGeouge) May 15, 2023
They also added that "the request of the extremist temple groups was not limited to an assault on al-Aqsa as part of the parade of flags, but added that the assault would be carried out from the Lions' Gate, and not the Mughrabi Gate." Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the compound from the Lion's Gate, meanwhile, the Palestinian fear of a significant event on Thursday and the intention to increase the Jewish presence in the city is also extremely evident in the discourse going on in Palestinian social media channels and groups on Telegram and WhatsApp.
Jerusalem Day in Israel marks the reunification of the ancient city under Israeli rule in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. While Palestinian media would have most under the impression that Israel “occupied” East Jerusalem from the hands of Palestinians, it should be noted that it was in fact Jordan who ruled East Jerusalem with an Iron fist and was active in suppressing Palestinian nationals who would speak out against the Hashemite Kingdom.
