Protesters attempt march in Jerusalem

Police blocked hundreds of Israeli nationalists from marching around predominantly Palestinian areas of Jerusalem on Wednesday. They set up roadblocks outside the Old City walls, closing the main road to the Damascus Gate where protests last year sparked a war between Israel and the militant Islamic group Hamas. Organizers said they are responding to a surge of violent street attacks. They applied for a protest permit, which police denied. Israeli leaders said the march was a provocation.

What have demonstrators done? Early Wednesday, several hundred protesters crowded a barricade waving flags, chanting, and singing. Israeli police have clashed with Palestinian protesters for several days at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. Some Jewish protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Police have been using nonlethal, sponge-tipped rubber pellets to repel marchers. Hamas threatened “repercussions” if Israel allowed protesters to reach holy sites. Hours later, a rocket launched from Gaza struck a home in Israel, but no one was injured and no faction claimed responsibility.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report in WORLD Magazine on the 11-day war during Ramadan last year.