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Palestinians rap Israel's insistence on helping settlers hold provocative march

Thursday, 18 May 2023 4:09 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 May 2023 4:10 AM ]

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority (PA)'s president

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has denounced the Israeli regime's insistence on helping extremist Israeli settlers hold a provocative march in the Old City of the holy occupied city of al-Quds.

The so-called "flag march" is scheduled to take place on Thursday, with the settlers urging for the rally's itinerary to include the al-Aqsa Mosque's compound -- Islam's third holiest site.

Speaking on Wednesday, PA president's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh warned that the march would ratchet up existing tensions and could lead to an "explosion" of the already fraught situation in the region, including across the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

The potential inclusion of the holy compound as part of the places that would be visited by the marchers "will ignite the region and the consequences will be dire," the agency reported, citing the Palestinian official.

Rudeineh held the Israeli regime's cabinet fully responsible for the consequences that the event could lead to.

The march would mark the Israeli regime's occupation of the Palestinian territory of the West Bank in a Western-backed war in 1967.

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas has also denounced the planned event, warning the Israeli regime against "crossing any red lines."

"Any violation of our red lines will mean that the resistance will have a say,” said Ali Baraka, the group's representative in Lebanon.

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Thousands of Israeli settlers have reportedly fled settlements around the Gaza Strip as part of an evacuation plan.

The march is a “provocation to the Palestinian people and a violation of the sanctity of al-Aqsa,” the official noted.

According to The Times of Israel, the Israeli regime's police force would mobilize more than 2,000 officers to guard the settlers partaking in the march.

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