JERUSALEM -- Under heavy police guard, thousands of Israeli demonstrators on Sunday marched through Arab sections of Jerusalem's Old City to celebrate Israel's capture of the area nearly 50 years ago.
Police reported clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in several areas of east Jerusalem as Israel marked its annual "Jerusalem Day." No serious injuries were reported.
Jerusalem Day commemorates Israel's capture of the Old City in the 1967 Mideast war. The Old City is home to Jerusalem's most sensitive holy sites, and nationalistic Israelis mark the day by marching through Arab areas of the Old City. The day, marked according to the Jewish lunar calendar, often experiences unrest.
In the main event of the day, thousands of Israelis, many waving flags or chanting nationalistic slogans, marched through Damascus Gate, the entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and made their way to the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter.
The Jewish protesters danced, sang songs and chanted "Long live Israel," while small groups of Palestinian counterdemonstrators held Palestinian flags and chanted, "With our souls and our blood, we will redeem Palestine." Walls of paramilitary Israeli border police kept the sides apart from one other, although some scuffles took place.
Police said they arrested six Palestinians -- four charged with stone throwing and two others for allegedly attacking police. They said four officers were lightly wounded by rocks thrown by Palestinian demonstrators.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem and the Old City after the 1967 war, but the annexation has not been recognized internationally. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, home to nearly all of the city's 300,000 Arabs, as the capital of their hoped-for state.
In a speech marking the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any compromise over the issue. "Jerusalem will remain united forever," he said.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, a leading figure in Israel's settler movement, was laid to rest Sunday in the West Bank city of Hebron, where he helped establish a contentious Jewish community after Israel captured the territory from Jordan in 1967.
Thousands attended his funeral outside Hebron's holiest site, known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque. Relatives said Levinger died Saturday after an illness.
Levinger led the first settlers to Hebron, where Jews lived for centuries until dozens were massacred in Arab riots in 1929. Tensions still run high in Hebron, where about 800 settlers now live in heavily guarded areas amid 180,000 Palestinians.
The rabbi left Jerusalem on Passover eve in 1968 along with several dozen followers and checked into the Park Hotel posing as Swiss tourists. The next day, Levinger declared their true identity and announced their intention to re-establish Hebron's Jewish community.
Levinger was charged with assault on several occasions. In 1990, he served three months of a five-month term for killing an Arab shopkeeper after he was attacked by a crowd of Palestinians throwing rocks.
Today more than 350,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and 200,000 more in east Jerusalem -- alongside more than 2 million Palestinians who demand the areas along with the Gaza Strip for their future state.
The international community views the settlements as illegitimate. U.S.-mediated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last year largely over the settlement issue.
Information for this article was contributed by Ariel Schalit of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/18/2015