On June 1, formal Israeli festivities were held around the country to commemorate “Jerusalem Day”.
One of the main events of the “Jerusalem Day" celebrations is the “Dance of Flags”. Tens of thousands of people, waving Israeli flags, march through Palestinian parts of the city.
This year, the marchers chanted slogans such as “butcher the Arabs”, “burn their villages”, and “death to the leftists”.
The marchers also surrounded a mosque, frantically chanting “Muhammad is dead” and “They are only Arabs, they are only fleas”.
The marchers were protected by Israeli police. The event was partly organised and sponsored by city hall. The marchers banged on the doors of Palestinian homes along the march route, and some attacked Palestinian by-standers.
Fifteen people were arrested in the event, mostly from a small group of Palestinian and Jews who protested against the march.
On this day in 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, including the Palestinian parts of Jerusalem which were not already occupied and ethnically cleansed in 1948.
In Israel, the day is celebrated as the “reunification” of Jerusalem, despite the fact that the Palestinians living in Jerusalem never received equal Israeli citizenship, and have lived since 1967 under Israeli military rule.
The Palestinian parts of Jerusalem suffer heavy discrimination. This includes the infamous apartheid wall and checkpoints, as well as the increasing expulsion of Palestinian families from their houses, which are either destroyed or taken over by Jewish settlers.
Footage of the "Dance of the Flags" march through Palestinian areas.