Israel's court allows nationalistic Jewish parade to march through J'elm's Arab neighborhood

Israel's Supreme Court rejected Monday a petition to reroute an annual ultra-nationalistic Jewish parade that marches through a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem, with dozens of marchers shouting anti-Arab calls.

The justices, however, said the police should arrest and indict any participants who shout racist calls or commit an act of violence against Palestinian residents.

"We reject the petition with a heavy heart," Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said, adding that "it was difficult to watch video evidence of verbal violence" sent along with the petition by Ir Amim and Tag Meir ("Spreading the Light"), Israeli anti-racist groups.

The annual "Flags Parade" is held on the occasion of the Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of the "reunification" of the city after Israel seized the Arab eastern part of the city during the 1967 Mideast War. This year the march will be held on May 17.

The participants, predominantly rightwing nationalist-religious Jews, march via the Palestinian Muslim Quarter in East Jerusalem en route to the Western Wall, in a demonstration of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

The petition targeted permits by the police, which authorized the parade to pass through the Muslim Quarter although it disrupts the lives of Palestinian residents and merchants, requiring them to barricade themselves in their homes to protect their own lives.

According to local media reports in recent years, police have issued guidelines to Palestinians in the Muslim and Christian Quarters, instructing them to close their shops and stay in their homes from one hour before the parade until its end.

Last year, Ir Amim collected video documentation showing marchers banging on windows of residences, shouting "Death to Arabs," spitting, pushing and vandalizing public and personal property. Other videos showed marchers shouting: "The Temple will be built; burn the mosque," referring to the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a holy site to both Muslims and Jews.

This year's march comes amid soaring violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the city over access to the al-Aqsa compound.

Israel annexed the Arab eastern Jerusalem and "unified" the city in 1980, in a move not recognized by the international community.

The annexation became a major hurdle in peace negotiations. The Palestinians demand a state with Jerusalem as its capital. Endit