RAMALLAH
Hundreds of Palestinian students on Monday participated in a march in the northern West Bank city of Nablus in support of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The march, in which groups of boy scouts from different parts of Nablus took part, headed toward Martyrs' Square in the center of the city. Participants raised pictures of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and chanted slogans calling on Muslims to defend them.
The state-run Teachers Union in Nablus, on its Facebook page, had earlier called for holding a march in the presence of national forces and factions.
The union also called on students to skip school on Monday to protest violations by Israeli settlers and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"The occupation authorities continue to commit their violations in Jerusalem, exploiting the current weakness of Arab leaders," Palestinian activist Nasr Abu Jeish said at the event.
He warned against Israeli plans to "Judaize" the Old City and divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Mahmoud Shtayyeh, a senior member of Palestinian faction Fatah, meanwhile, said Jerusalem would continue to be the capital of the future Palestinian state.
He called on the United Nations to intervene to give the Palestinians their rights in the Old City.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It unilaterally annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times.
Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" the city with the aim of effacing its Arab and Islamic identity and ultimately driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.
International law considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied territories taken by Israel in 1967, viewing all Jewish settlement building as illegitimate.
Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement building must stop before stalled peace talks with Israel can resume.
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