Hamas: They Can Avoid War If Stopped

JAKARTA - The Hamas group that controls the Gaza Strip is trying to impose a new boundary on Jerusalem, the epicenter of the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, even though it risks sparking war.

For years, flag-waving Israeli nationalists have staged an annual march through Jerusalem to celebrate Israel's conquest of the Old City in the 1967 Middle East war.

Processions through the narrow streets of Muslim quarters have always been controversial, but legal attempts to ban the event failed, with supporters arguing it was a legitimate festival that marked a remarkable moment in Jewish history.

Hamas significantly raised the stakes last year, firing rockets at Israel minutes after the 2021 marches began, sparking an 11-day war. The group's leader said they were ready for new violence on Sunday if the Israeli government did not keep this year's march out of Muslim circles.

"They can avoid war and escalation if they stop this crazy (march)," Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters in Gaza this week.

"I hope Hamas and other (military) factions are ready to do all they can to prevent this incident, regardless of how much it costs us," Naim said.

For many Palestinians, the march was a blatant provocation and a grave violation of one of the few places in the city, which is increasingly confined by Jewish construction and settlement, which maintains a strong Arab flavour.

For Hamas it is also an insult to religion, given that the Old City is home to the Al Aqsa mosque complex, Islam's third holiest site, which Jews also revere as the Temple Mount, the remnant of two of their religion's ancient temples.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has defended security officials' decision to allow Sunday's procession to enter Damascus Gate and pass through Muslim quarters.

Some coalition members have urged him to rethink the route, suggesting there could be a last-minute change of heart. However, a senior Western diplomatic source doubted PM Bennett would comply with Hamas' demands.

"He's only been in office for a year and that would make him look weak," said the diplomat, who declined to be named.

Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital. Meanwhile, the Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

"For Israel, Jerusalem is not on the table, for Palestinians it is the table. This is their Alamo," said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer and campaigner for Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem.

A senior Israeli lawmaker from the ruling coalition said it was too risky to allow Sunday's march to continue in its current form given the tensions.

"We must not, with our own hands, cause a religious war here or any kind of provocation that can ignite the Middle East," Ram Ben-Barak told Radio Kan.

However, calls to rethink the route have been scorned by organizers, who deny that the procession, which often features anti-Arab chants, is a provocation.

"This is all about the celebration, the liberation of Jerusalem and the return of the Jewish people to the Jewish city, Jerusalem," said Arieh King, deputy mayor of Jerusalem.

Separately, highlighting its concerns over possible violence, the US Embassy in Jerusalem has barred US government employees and their families from entering the Old City on Sunday, saying the Damascus Gate is off limits to them until further notice.