Nearly 2,000 Israeli policemen have deployed throughout Jerusalem in preparation for the annual march held Tuesday morning amid continued clashes between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police. “We are maintaining a state of alert and are deploying in force,” Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Rubi told AFP.
Some 70,000 people are anticipated to attend the 12-kilomter march, part of the ritual associated with the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth, with at least one part passing through a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
On Monday, Palestinian children threw stones at Israeli police in several east Jerusalem neighborhoods as muezzins urged the city’s Muslims to defend the al-Aqsa Mosque out of fear that “Jews will try to break into it.” Access to the mosque compound remains limited to Muslim women and men over the age of 50.
