Palestinian businesses in Jerusalem were forced to close on Thursday ahead of Israel’s “flag march,” which is expected to attract tens of thousands of nationalists. The event, which marks Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967, has previously led to violence and racist slogans being chanted, according to Al Jazeera. In the Old City, where the majority of Jerusalem’s Palestinian population live, a heavy police presence was seen from early Thursday as hundreds of stores were ordered to close and multiple checkpoints set up to control the security of the event. Some Palestinians say they voluntarily chose to temporarily shutter their businesses to avoid harassment. “The occupiers try to provoke us and we do not have the power to deter them,” Hassan Omar al-Hroub, 70, said. “They come in large numbers. I prefer to close my store.”
