Jerusalem celebrating YOM YERUSHALAIM

Jerusalem's "March of the Flags" this afternoon.

All photos HERE !

B"H

Jerusalem was celebrating its 44th anniversary of unity and liberation. After winning the Six - Day - War in June 1967, the Jews got back the entire city of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount (Har HaBait) and the Kotel (Western Wall).

Unfortunately, the leftist Moshe Dayan (serving as Defense Minister in 1967) allowed the Arabs to remain on the Tempel Mount. If he had not done so and, instead, kicked the Muslims out of the Dome of the Rock or Al Aksa Mosque, things may look different today. After Israel's miraculous victory in the Six - Day - War caused the world to finally respect our country and no one would have said a word, if Israel had taken over the Temple Mount. However, Dayan gave it back to the Arabs and, although today, Israel rules over the Temple Mount, the Muslim Wakf is in charge of what is going on around the Dome of the Rock.

I have heard many people complaining about how stupid Dayan could have been and I replied that maybe it wasn't the time. Maybe it wasn't the time for the Jews reigning over the Temple Mount or causing Meshiach to come. Could it be that Dayan was just a tool and G - d used him for His won plans ?

Today, Yom Yerushalaim represents the day of the national religious movement celebrating their "March of the Flags" from Sacher Park down to the Kotel. You will hardly find any secular Jews or Haredim participating except for a few Nana Breslovers and Chabad Meshichistim in order to spread some of their own propaganda.:-)

The march has a kind of Mechitzah (gender separation) where national religious guys dance and wave Israeli flags. The girls walking behind the males, do the same. Yes, national religious girls dance openly and once I was shocked seeing them dancing in front of the Kotel. Haredim passed and one haredi woman walked up to the national religious dancing group and gave them a piece of advice.

Of course, Jerusalem is proud of its unity but the question is for how long this status quo is going to continue. Netanyahu is obviously trying to make a deal with the White House guy Barak Hussein and, in a few years time, Jerusalem could find itself being divided again.

My personal feeling is that the city has already been facing another division. East and West Jerusalem don't only mean "Here are the Arabs and there are the Jews". Lets be honest: How many Jews are going to the Arab parts of the city ? Do we consider those parts as ours ? The answer is that the Arabs come to West Jerusalem on a daily basis. To shop, to hang around or to work. On the other hand, not too many Jews walk around in Muslim neighbourhoods, as we are not too wanted. Arabs use the privilege of entering Jewish neighbourhoods but as soon as a Jew walks into Arab "territory", the Muslims freak and start yelling and cursing or sometimes even attack the Jew. As a result of this only a handful of Jews dare going into Arab neighbourhoods except for the police or the army.

Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem

Photo: Miriam Woelke

I don't feel comfortable walking around at Damascus Gate because the area is full of Hamas activists and their fans. The Damascus Gate area itself has a Jewish as well as an ancient Roman history but do I feel this connection today ? Of course, there are organizations such as "Ateret Cohanim" buying back property from Palestinian owners but somehow Jerusalem has never succeeded in getting rid of its Arab - Jewish division.