ISRAEL - Celebrates Jerusalem Day

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I gather this is why the Wall was cheek-to-jowl yesterday. Thousands, if you happened to catch it.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/141/world/Israel_celebrates_anniversary_:.shtml

Israel celebrates anniversary of capture of Arab part of Jerusalem

By Jason Keyser, Associated Press, 5/21/2001 21:53

JERUSALEM (AP) Israelis celebrated Jerusalem Day the anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War with parades, flags and fireworks on Monday.

Israel's capture of the Arab section of the city, including the walled Old City with sites holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews, remains a thorny political issue in stalled peace talks. Palestinians demand sovereignty over the areas Israel captured, but Israel's present government refuses to compromise.

Security was tight, with police and soldiers patrolling along parade routes and in the Old City. Israeli security forces have been on the alert for Palestinian attacks and bombings through nearly eight months of violence that started at a disputed Jerusalem holy site.

In the Old City, a tiny group of ultra-nationalist Jews demonstrated to demand access to Jerusalem's holiest shrine, the Al Aqsa Mosque compound where Jews believe the remains of their two Temples are buried.

The shrine, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, to Muslims, has been a focus of the latest round of violence in the region.

In a solemn ceremony that contrasted with the festive atmosphere, Israeli leaders and family members gathered at the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in Jerusalem to pay tribute to the Israeli soldiers who died in the war.

Israel will achieve peace without relinquishing control over east Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told families of fallen soldiers at the memorial ceremony.

''Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years, and the Temple Mount is the heart of the Jewish nation and its center, forever united and indivisible,'' Sharon told the crowd.

Although the shrine is formally under Israeli control, entry to the compound by non-Muslims has been blocked by the Waqf, the Islamic trust ,which maintains the site, since violence began on September 28.

Several dozen members of the ultra-nationalist Temple Mount Faithful group led a parade through the streets of traditionally Arab east Jerusalem, before they were blocked by police at the entrance to the compound.

Advar Naveh, 56, stood a few steps away from a wooden door with chipped green paint, one of the entrances to the site where the ancient Jewish temples stood.

''It's awful. I remember the days when it was under Jordanian occupation and we used to stand over there and look,'' she said, pointing toward a hill on the Jewish side of Jerusalem, complaining that even now, Jews are banned from the holy site.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001


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