Jerusalem Day In Israel With Thursday's "The Flag March"

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

                                   Jews at Western Wall praying in Jerusalem

 Jerusalem Day on Thursday will be celebrated with tens of thousands of Israelis who are expected to march to the Kotel through the Muslim quarter of the Old City carrying Israeli flags, in what has become known as the Flag March, to commemorate the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. Thousands of police will be securing the route. National Security Minister Ben Gvir is planning to attend. All Jews had been kept from the wall since 1948 by Jordan. 

 By joining in on the attack on Israel in 1967, Jordan lost the Old part of Jerusalem with the Wall because they lost their battle.  Israel fought off all the attackers;  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and aid and abetting was Russia.  It really was a miracle that happened, one little country (with USA help) against 4 large Middle Eastern nations  and the fact of doing it in 6 days.  Well, it's a hot hot area and no one could last longer, one would think--not like Europe.  As it was, Israel had 776 IDF deaths and 4,517 wounded in this war. 

       View of the Six Day War: all possible called into battle
                             

   Marching-walking through the Muslim areas, not forbidden area but part of Jerusalem, not about to become it's own nation like Belgium has allowed part to develop of their country- a part even the police dare not enter.  Could Mrs. Maisel allow a neighbor to stew in her own juices with hatred? No.  Let's hope it doesn't ever happen here.   

Oh, joy to the world that Jerusalem is again whole and all can visit it.  That joy must be vented by walking in this march.    

                         Last year's flag march 

Hamas has called on Arabs to converge on the Al Aqsa Mosque tomorrow morning to protest the march. They call this their Nakba Day--the Palestinian Catastrophe.  You note that they remain, not joining others in Gaza.  The feeling is that they'd rather be here than under Palestinians where they'd get nothing.  This has caused many countries to drop out of the march this year who have participated in the past.  Thousands of police will be deployed in Jerusalem on Thursday to secure the Flag March, which will go through the Muslim area of the Old City in commemoration of the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. The events helped to open the Old City's Arabs so that they gained all the benefits that the rest of Jerusalem were receiving.  

In 1948, the Jews of Israel found themselves fighting for survival in the War of Independence that started on November 29, 1947, when the Arabs responded with violence to the United Nations resolution on Palestine, and this lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949.  

               Temple Mount within Jerusalem, where our 1st and 2nd Temple of Solomon had once stood that Romans burned down and possibly a Roman polytheistic Temple to their god was built over the site, then later replaced by the Mosque of Omar.  

The fact is that during its first 25 years, Israel has never known real peace.  From its first day, it has been confronted by neighboring States which refused to accept its very existence, and have forced Jews to fight 4 wars; The War of Independence, The Sinai War , The Six Day War, and the War of Attrition that led to the Yom Kippur War.  They were not huge wars like WWI and WWII, but wars of life and death, nevertheless that spelled out its survival and continuance or not.                                        

                   Knesset in Jerusalem-seat of government

Jerusalem ! It resides in the center of the Judean mountains, land of the tribe of Judah-one of the 12 tribes of Jacob which made up Israel.   Who doesn't realize that this has been the capital of Israel developed by King David who ruled from 1010 BCE-970 BCE--3,033 years ago?  It's been our capital, our center, our heart ever since then.  It was attacked and burned down by the Romans in 70 CE which led to Arabs entering and building a mosque of note, Mosque of Omar, giving them reason to be involved with Jerusalem.  Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, came searching for artifacts from Jesus after his death in 325 CE. 

Oh Jerusalem, city of Gold....as the song goes..that I learned as a new oleh.

World War I and Jews of Palestine were on the side of the British.  The development of Jerusalem was interrupted by the war.  Where we had 3,000 Jews there in 1838, there were 50,000 by 1910.  In December 1917 (end of WWI) the city was occupied by General Allenby at the head of a British army.  Britain ruled for the next 30 years according to their mandate.  With events of the world continuing, 100,000 Jews lived there by 1946, as World War II had just ended.  

Arabs had been holding riots in 1922, 1929 and 1936-1939 during the Nazi's extermination program against Jews.  

The UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947 provided for the creation of an independent area of Jerusalem under UN administration.  Arab outbreaks-of regular warfare- saw the Jews' Haganah fight and the the Arabs, then whole Arab legion of Transjordan put an end to the internationalization scheme.  The war lasted from December 1947 until July 1948.  As it happened, the Jewish quarter in the older part of Jerusalem had to be evacuated and then was destroyed.  But, the newer part of Jerusalem where other Jews lived was still held by the Jews.  The Arab Legion shelled and starved the Jews of Jerusalem, trying to make them surrender, but they were stopped.  "The Burma Road" was opened nd restored the connection between Jewish Jerusalem and the coast.  

   Declaration of the state, Golda Meir was there, a few minutes of peace and then the attacks started...

May 14, 1948 and Israel was born again as the British mandate had ended and they left.  Jerusalem was divided into 2 parts; the Israeli section and the Jordanian section.  

                      IDF paratroopers first sight of Wall

The Six Day War from June 5, 1967, brought on Jordanian troops into the Old City and Jordanian sections of the city bombarded the New part of Jerusalem.  It took the Jews only 2 days and the entire city came under Israel control.  The first thing that happened was that everyone went to the Western Wall, the Kotel, to see it as they had been kept away since 1948 by  Jordan's Arabs. 

        Dancing with joy to be there; doing the hora..

So, on June 29, 1967, Israel's government formally united the 2 sections of the city and the barriers, like barbed wire, that had divided them were removed.  The population of the eastern portion of the city included 139,600 Moslems and Christians and they have been incorporated into the total population of 493,500's population in 1990.  

Israel wrote the Jerusalem Law in 1980 and this extended Israel sovereignty over the entire city.  It hasn't been divided for the past 43 years.  To teach and remember and honor those involved in regaining Jerusalem, Israel has been holdingthis march in Jerusalem.     

         Our special place to offer prayers;  all do it. 

Update:  5/19/2023:  Yesterday, tens of thousands of Jews danced and marched with Israeli flags through Jerusalem and the Old City, converging at the Western Wall, in commemoration and celebration of the liberation and unification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. There were no major issues. (Israel AM)  

Reminder:  The Western Wall or Kotel, known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall, is a portion of ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem that forms part of the larger retaining wall of the hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount.

 

Resource:

Israel AM 

Facts About Israel, published by the Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem 

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia:  Jerusalem

https://m.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/documents/BasicLawsPDF/BasicLawJerusalem.pdf