Hundreds of Israelis march through East Jerusalem under heavy security
Police arrest 15 people in clashes following a flag procession marking 44 years since Jerusalem's reunification in the 1967 Six-Day War.
By Nir Hasson Tags: East Jerusalem Palestinians JerusalemSeveral hundred Israelis marched through the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Wednesday, as part of a Jerusalem Day flag procession to mark 44 years since the reunification of the capital.
The marchers were accompanied by heavy security forces, in anticipation of possible clashes between the participants and residents or left-wing protesters. The procession went on calmly, however, with no noteworthy confrontations.
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Jerusalem Day march in Jerusalem, May 31, 2009. |
| Photo by: Maya Levin/JINI |
The Israel Police said earlier Wednesday that it would step up patrols across Jerusalem to prevent possible clashes when Israelis marched through the largely Palestinian East Jerusalem, to mark the anniversary of Israel's capture of the area in 1967.
About 30,000 Israelis were expected to take part in the march through Sheikh Jarrah, past a contentious Jewish enclave there.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says 3,000 officers, including border police and undercover units, were on patrol across the capital.
Two of the left-wing activists protesting the march were reportedly arrested. Five residents of East Jerusalem were arrested after hurling stone at the march. Near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate, five Jewish men were arrested after uttering nationalistic calls at nearby Israeli Arabs and reportedly attempted to strike them.
In the city's Hanevi'im Street, two marchers were arrested after hurling objects at Israeli Arabs passing nearby. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents. In a seperate incident, One man was arrested after entering a Sheikh Jarrah mosque, waving a flag.
Sheikh Jarrah has been the scene of repeated clashes over the last two years due to Arab residents' opposition to Jews moving there. From there, the parade will proceed to the Old City and the Western Wall. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will never divide the city.
"To my great regret, the religious Zionist community is the only one that celebrates Jerusalem Day in a significant way," said Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor David Hadari, who is helping to organize the parade. "I'd be happy to see the entire Zionist public at these events."
The left-wing Gush Shalom movement, on the other hand, called for the cancellation of Jerusalem Day, saying the holiday commemorates the annexation of Palestinian territory "under the pretext of false unity."
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This reminds me of when over 30 years ago American Nazis were allowed to march through the Jewish neighborhoods of Skokie, Illinois. The US First Amendment protected the right of those Nazis to do so as disgusting as their nasty provocation was. Would Israel protect the right of Arabs to march through a Jewish neighborhood with the singular intent of provocation?
Talk about unnecessary provocation! Israel says the Gaza flotilla is nothing more than a provocative act and yet these idiotic settler fanatics are allowed to provoke confrontation in East Jerusalem? I have been around the Damascus Gate when this march occurred in previous years and these settlers are rude, arrogant, belligerent, and bring a reproach upon the rest of the Israeli people. But, that is what you get when you have a right wing government that encourages it.
Jerusalem day is a celebration of liberation. It's a happy day where we rejoice at having our home city back. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the Jewish people. The Arab occupation there has existed for a long time and we invite them to stay as long as they recognize it's the capital of Israel.
the weapons are for security not provaction
Never again should Jews have to beg to get acsess to holy sites. Never again should arabs tell Jews what they can or cant do. Instead all arabs should make the choice. Live in peace with Jews or move back to jordan etc.
Nothing new heer.
dont cry afterwards, its not honorable to say the least.
Hee is one non Israeli who thinks it was legal. anytime you defeat another nation, especially one who has declared war on you, and you occupy territory of that natlion, it is yours until a formal peace agreement is signed and decisions and tradeoffs made. Do you know that the West Bank belonged to Jordan, not the Palestinians. It was not Palestinian. Jordan gifted it to them after the unsucessful 1948 Arab League attack on israel. East Jerusalem was not Palestinian. in modern times and historically it was Jewish for most of its existence. So who did Israel annex it from?
30,000 fanatics and 3,000 police officers. Pretty expensive nose-thumbing. Hope they got their money's worth.
NOW!
I am angered. I am saddened. I see no hope.
Extreme rightwingers love to expand and provoke. Extreme leftists will do the opposiste. Then we have the moderate center in Israel: we want security, tolerance, compromises and peace. But we have to keep Jerusalem open - no wall, no mines, no Mandelbaum gate. Open and prosperious, for all. And for the time being: Israel should take of law, order and security. Is it possible to arrange an enclave for the PA in north-east Jerusalem in a future peacedeal? Maybe. Great complexity, but maybe possible to hammer out all the details and ensure security for all.
Open your eyes; it already is divided...
as these gangs of fanatics move in to Arab neighbourhoods, taunting and inciting before the steal property and dispossess. This is the ilk for whom the idiots in the US Congress cheered and jumped to their feet 59 times. They don't seem to have a problem with this. So Israel has carte blanche, a carte blanche that is given to no other nation on the planet.
The Arabs of Jerusalem have never lived as good as they do now, and they are the same ones that will resist becoming Palestinian citizens. They know life is better for them in Israel.
Only because our Congress have applauded Nentayahu dosen't mean all of us have. The girl who disrupted his speech is much more like the rest of Americans than the useless elderly corrupt criminals in the Congress. Lately we just call it Knesset anywyas.