The centerpiece of the celebration is the long march by thousands of Israelis from a park near the Knesset, through the city center, into the Jaffa Gate and through the Old City, culminating in the arrival of nearly 40,000 people by evening at the Western Wall Plaza. During the morning, I met a friendly father and daughter from Alaska who invited me to watch the flag procession from the roof of their hotel near the Jaffa Gate. It was an excellent vantage point as people began to trickle through the gate in late afternoon, and then a steady stream of marchers of all ages with flags, loud music, triumphant singing, clasped hands began to pour into the Old City on the last leg of the walk to the wall. The music and the vivid blue-and-white flags and the sheer joy of the Israelis in this ritual was intoxicating. It went on for hours. I watched first from the roof inside the Old City, then from a plaza outside the Jaffa Gate, where I could see the crowds of people filling the streets of the city center and filing down the Old City wall toward the gate. Had all the roads not been closed, and had I felt a little safer about walking home alone in the dark, I would have made my way immediately to the Western Wall to immerse myself in that wash of bright blue and white, the music and the dancing, and the exuberance of the moment.
Later that night, there was an incredible fireworks display over Jerusaelem, for which I had an excellent view standing on the rocks in front of my hotel. You could hear the cheers from the other side of the mountain, and I wished I could be there with them celebrating all that hope and new life and new continuity.
In a stark example of the deep tension and conflict that surrounds this city, there is another Jerusalem Day, this one celebrated in Arab countries in October and known as "Qods Day." This holiday garnered a good bit of attention in 2005 when the president of Iran used the occasion to call for Israel to be wiped off the map. In general, Jerusalem day in this context is a day of honoring Jerusalem (which of course remains a holy city for Muslims) and showing solidarity with the Palestinians. Click here for a BBC slideshow of Jerusalem Day/Qods Day protests in Tehran.
Below you'll find a selection of pictures from Jerusalem Day and the procession of flags. In the second picture, the religious Jewish man dancing on the van drove up out of nowhere, music blaring, jumped up on the roof and put on a pretty good show. I have no idea what the van says or why he was there, but the crowd really loved him.
