10 May 2019

On Wednesday, May 15 at 1:30 PM the Israeli High Court of Justice will hear a petition submitted by Ir Amim along with eight prominent Israeli public figures, demanding that the Jerusalem Police and Municipality bar the annual Jerusalem Day Flag Parade from marching through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Every year the flag parade on Jerusalem Day – founded to celebrate Israel’s 1967 “reunification” of the city – is an annual flashpoint for conflict, attracting Jewish nationalist protesters who march through the Muslim Quarter via the Damascus Gate and engage in acts of incitement and violence against Palestinians. Muslim Quarter residents often suffer from loss of business, while some have reported barricading themselves in their homes to protect themselves.

This year, however, threats to the residents’ safety, freedom of movement and commerce have been compounded by the concurrence of the parade with the last few days of Ramadan, the holiest period of the Muslim month of fasting, which is marked by increased religious activity, festive celebrations and a peak in the number of worshippers at Al Aqsa and in the Muslim Quarter.

While this is not the first year Ir Amim has submitted a petition to the High Court to reroute the Flag parade, this year’s petition is particularly imperative given the sacredness of this period and the necessity to maintain the quarter’s reverent atmosphere where tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers from all over East Jerusalem, Israel and the West Bank will be fasting and praying.

On April 16, Ir Amim filed the petition to the High Court following the rejection of an earlier request submitted to the Jerusalem Police to divert the parade from the Muslim Quarter.  In its response, the Jerusalem Police stated there is no reason to alter the parade’s route and therefore will take place as planned. Prior to this year’s rare concurrence of events, extensive footage collected by Ir Amim from previous years demonstrates that the Police have failed to act against severe displays of provocations and violence by the marchers and parade organizers.

The Jerusalem Municipality’s response to the petition claimed the decision pertaining to the parade’s route rests solely in the hands of the police, thereby absolving itself from its responsibility for safeguarding the religious rights of its Muslim population. Permitting such a parade to pass through the Muslim Quarter during this time not only underscores an acute disregard by Israeli authorities for the city’s Muslim residents and their holy days, but also constitutes an impingement on their worship rights and freedom of access.

While certainly liable to heighten tensions in the city, allowing this parade to march through the Muslim Quarter year after year is also indicative of the persistent attempts to assert Israeli sovereignty over the area. The fact that the parade is organized by Am Kelavi (Nation of Lions), an organization with ties to the Ateret Cohanim settler organization, which is waging one of the largest settler-takeover campaigns of Palestinian homes in Batan al Hawa-Silwan and the Muslim Quarter, reveals the parade’s larger political implications. The parade likewise enjoys the backing and financial support of Israeli authorities, while right-wing Knesset Members have often been observed participating in it.

In tandem with these legal efforts, Ir Amim has been equally engaged in launching a widescale public outreach campaign to raise awareness on the problematic nature of the coalescence of these events and to enlist Israeli public support in calling for the rerouting of the parade out of respect for the multi-religious and multi-cultural character of Jerusalem as the home of two peoples and three world religions.

Please join us at the High Court hearing on Wednesday, May 15 at 1:30 PM. In order to make arrangements for translation and other logistics, please confirm attendance with Ir Amim.

Please address all inquiries to:

Amy Cohen

Director of International Relations & Advocacy

Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples)

Jerusalem

Tel – 054-673-1231

amy@ir-amim.org.il

Website: http://www.ir-amim.org.il/en

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Betty Herschman, Ir Amim’s former director of international relations and advocacy, can be reached at mediator47@gmail.com for personal correspondence.