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A PLO flag draped over a wall of Jerusalem’s Old City, Jan. 1, 2019. Photo: Screenshot.
A giant Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag was draped over one of the walls of the Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, drawing a strong rebuke from the municipality’s mayor.
The red, green, black and white flag — emblazoned with pictures of the late Yasser Arafat and current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — appears to have been hung to mark the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah terrorist group, now a political party led by Abbas.
The Israeli news site Mako reported that Jerusalem police quickly removed the flag.
Mayor Moshe Lion condemned the incident, saying, “The only sovereignty in Jerusalem is Israeli sovereignty.”
The unfurling of the flag followed a series of other occurrences in which Palestinian nationalists in the largely-Arab eastern sector of the city have attempted to mark the anniversary of Fatah’s establishment.
Fatah banners have been removed in the neighborhoods of Silwan and Isawiya, and a Fatah official and three activists from the group have been arrested in eastern Jerusalem, reportedly in order to head off other possible anniversary-related activities.
Maor Tzemach, the leader of the Lach Yerushalayim group, which promotes Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, said of Wednesday’s flag incident, “Fatah activists in Jerusalem are trying in every way to violate Israeli sovereignty — it is clear to us that the Jerusalem police and the Israeli government must act with all their might against these sources of terror and strengthen Israeli sovereignty against the same terrorists.”