New Gov’t to Face First Challenge With Palestinian ‘Day of Rage’

The new government will be faced with one of its first challenges on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s “Day of Rage,” announced by the Palestinian factions.

The “Day of Rage” was declared for Yehudah and Shomron, East Yerushalayim and the mixed Jewish and Arab cities inside Israel.

The Hamas and Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction warned of an escalation of violence if the right-wing flag march that received police permission would pass through the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Yerushalayim, the Lebanese Al Akhbar daily newspaper reported Monday.

The last attempt to hold the march was brought to an abrupt end on Yerushalayim Day last month after Hamas rockets from Gaza targeted Yerushalayim, marking the beginning of 11 days of fighting that included the firing of more than 4,000 rockets at Israeli communities and cities.

The Hamas terror group relayed a message to Israel through U.N. and Egyptian mediation demanding the march be canceled or at least re-routed. The terror group warned of a military response if their demands were not met.

The final decision on whether the march would be allowed to proceed will be taken by the new public security minister, Omer Bar-Lev, who will take over the ministry from Amir Ohana on Monday.

Bar-Lev will be briefed by Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai as to the police plan to secure the march.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will also have to decide the fate of an illegal outpost, Evyatar, that was scheduled for removal this week. The Defense Ministry already laid the groundwork for the outpost’s evacuation, but it was postponed.

The parade route was finalized on Friday, after it was announced canceled on Thursday due to disagreements regarding its route, which the organizers said defeated the purpose of the parade and encouraged the division of Yerushalayim.