Despite causes for concern, march through Muslim Quarter goes off without a hitch
Convergence of Ramadan, Naksa Day, Jerusalem Day raises prospect of conflict in the Old City, but cooler heads prevail
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
The Muslim Quarter of Old City was ripe for conflict during Sunday’s Jerusalem Day march that began at the Damascus Gate. Yet no strife was to be had.
This year, Jerusalem Day, held on the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, fell on the same day as the eve of the month-long Ramadan holiday and also coincided with Naksa Day, the Palestinian holiday held each year on June 5 to remember their displacement following the 1967 Six-Day War, in which Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
The Jerusalem Day march through the Muslim Quarter would make it more difficult for residents to make their final purchases ahead of the Muslim holiday, a practical inconvenience on top of the occasionally insulting behavior of the Jewish participants in the march.
A judge who watched a video from the 2015 parade said it contained elements that “cannot be allowed to happen in the State of Israel at all,” during a hearing Sunday to determine if this year’s march would be allowed to go through the Muslim Quarter.
The past year has also seen a wave of terror attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, with the capital’s Damascus Gate serving as one of its epicenters.
Though the past two months have seen a decrease in the number of attacks, this convergence of a Palestinian national holiday, a Muslim religious holiday and a Jewish-Israeli holiday in one of the most contentious sections of one of the most contentious cities in the world could have easily sparked renewed conflict.
But it didn’t.
The march through the Muslim Quarter was not perfect. Two Jewish teenagers were arrested by police for shouting racist slogans at Arab residents, and a handful more were ejected from the parade.
Walking toward Damascus Gate, a girl holding an Israeli flag recorded herself with her mobile phone. “We’re going to march in front of our enemies, the enemies of Israel, those fucking Arabs,” she said into her phone’s camera.
“The Temple Mount is in our hands. Isn’t that right?” she asked the girl walking next to her.
“That’s right,” the friend answered.
Though most of the march’s participants wore blue and white shirts — Israel’s national colors — a few wore the black and yellow t-shirts of the racist, violently anti-assimilationist Lehava organization.
Some also wore stickers calling for the involuntary transfer of Arab Israelis out of the country, while others wore stickers reading, “Kahane was right,” a reference to the assassinated ultranationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane.
While the more radical elements of the march will certainly and understandably get more attention, for the most part cooler heads prevailed.
In the hour or so before the Jewish marchers were set to come through the Muslim Quarter, the area remained a flurry of activity, with shop owners trying to get in some final sales before they were forced to shut down their stores for the parade.
As the Israel Police, Border Police, IDF and civilian ushers began setting up blockades to restrict the movement of both Muslim Quarter residents and marchers in the parade, one Arab family got stuck on the wrong side of the barricade and needed to get out.
‘Don’t be hard-headed. Use your judgment’
Two young police officers guarding the alleyway wouldn’t let them leave, as the curfew for residents had already come into place. The family argued with them. Two foreign photographers snapped some photos of the little conflict and then walked away.
After a minute, their superior officer, Fawaz, who works in the Old City and served as an officer in the IDF’s Givati Brigade, stepped in and let the family leave.
“Don’t be hard-headed,” he told the young police officers. “Use your judgment.”
Fawaz used his judgment a few more times to allow other Muslim Quarter residents a chance to get through the area before the event began, though he could have just as easily said no.
During the march through the Muslim Quarter, the vast majority focused on joy in the fact that Jerusalem was brought under Israeli control, not on gloating that we beat “them.”
The songs that were sung — “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The People of Israel Live”), Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold” and the liturgical chant, “The Temple will be rebuilt, the city of Zion will be filled.”
The overwhelmingly religious marchers seemed genuinely thrilled they could walk through the city they pray towards three times a day. For most of them, the mark was not an act targeting the Muslim population.
A few incidents during the march were quickly ended by police.
When a small group of Jewish marchers stopped next to a small group of Arabs and started yelling — not singing — songs at them, the rest of the group pushed forward. One yarmulke-clad teenager told another in American-accented English: “Let’s keep going. It looks like they’re just jeering at those Palestinians.”
When that small contingent continued to antagonize the Muslim residents, police told them to move along, which they did.
Over the course of about two hours, thousands upon thousands of dancing, singing, flag-waving roisterers made their way through the area and on to the Western Wall plaza to continue their celebrations until the late evening.
By 7:05 p.m., the streets of the Muslim Quarter had mostly emptied of Jerusalem Day paraders. By 7:30 p.m., the shops and restaurants in the neighborhood had started reopening.
This year’s march could have easily deteriorated into a scuffle between Jews and Arabs, as it did in 2014 and in previous years. With the added tension of Naksa Day and Ramadan, it could have just as easily turned into something far worse.
Somehow it didn’t. Success, they say, has many fathers: the police, who maintained a “zero tolerance” policy toward violence and hooliganism; the march’s organizers, who pointedly kept their participants in line; the Muslim Quarter residents, who didn’t rise to the bait of the parade’s more antagonistic members.
Many shared the responsibility for this year’s dearth of violence, and many more were glad for it.
