Jerusalem braces for nationalist Flag March amid tensions over Gaza war

Security forces in capital were readying for potential friction on Wednesday afternoon, when the Jerusalem Day Flag March was slated to take place amid already heightened tensions over the ongoing war in Gaza.

The parade will follow its usual route, with tens of thousands of Jewish Israelis waving blue-and-white flags marching through Damascus Gate and the Old City’s Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall.

Critics of the march, which celebrates the reunification of East and West Jerusalem in 1967’s Six Day War, argue that parading through predominantly Arab areas of the Old City antagonizes the city’s Palestinian population, and often leads to violence against its residents by right-wing Jewish youth.