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Israel’s New Govt Gives Green Light to Controversial Jerusalem March

A file photo shows far right supporters wave Israeli flags as they pass through the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 24, 2017. (AFP)
A file photo shows far right supporters wave Israeli flags as they pass through the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 24, 2017. (AFP)
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Israel’s New Govt Gives Green Light to Controversial Jerusalem March

A file photo shows far right supporters wave Israeli flags as they pass through the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 24, 2017. (AFP)
A file photo shows far right supporters wave Israeli flags as they pass through the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 24, 2017. (AFP)

Israel’s new government gave the green light Monday for a controversial march by Jewish nationalists through annexed east Jerusalem, despite concerns over renewed tensions with the Palestinians.

Authorizing the march set for Tuesday, Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev’s office said: “The police is ready and we will do everything in our power to preserve the delicate thread of coexistence.”

The march was originally due to take place last Thursday but was delayed due to Israeli police opposition to the route and warnings from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

The outgoing government put off the march until Tuesday.

“The right to demonstrate is a right in all democracies,” said Bar-Lev, part of the new administration which took office after a vote in parliament on Sunday, according to AFP.

The so-called “March of the Flags” represents an early test for the new government.

Rallies by far-right Jewish groups last month raised tensions in flashpoint areas of Jerusalem, prompting a police intervention in Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

That triggered rocket attacks by Hamas and Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

The 11-day conflict killed 260 Palestinians including some fighters, the Gaza authorities said.

In Israel, 13 people were killed, including a soldier, by rockets fired from Gaza, the Israeli police and army said.

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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.