Hamas calls on Palestinians to confront Israeli victory parade in Jerusalem

By FARES AKRAM
Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group is calling on Palestinians to confront a flag-waving parade planned by Jewish nationalists through the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City. The comments added to the already heightened tensions ahead of Thursday’s march. It also raises the risk that fighting could resume between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, just days after a cease-fire took hold. Thursday’s march is meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of Jerusalem’s Old City in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its eternal capital. But the Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites, as their hoped-for capital. The competing claims often spill over into violence.