The Police Are Allowing, the Court Petition Is Canceled, and the March Will Take Place as Planned

Despite everything, the Tisha be-Av march around the walls of the Old City conducted by the Women in Green movement will take place as it always has, on the route it has taken for eighteen years.

As you will recall, about three months ago the heads of Women in Green, Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, were informed by the police that, due to the security sensitivity resulting from the month of Ramadan, the march would not be permitted. The reasons in the decision given to Matar and Katsover stated that during the hours for which the march was planned, tens of thousands of Muslims would be returning to their homes from the Temple Mount compound, to break the fast, and the encounter between them and the march would likely arouse friction and confrontations.

In order to prevent such friction, Women in Green was required to find an alternative route that would not pass along the route taken by the Muslims. Katsover and Matar argued in response that during all the years that the march has been held, there was not even a single instance of friction between the marchers and the Muslims. They further argued that if there was any fear for the wellbeing and security of citizens, the police must augment its forces or prevent the movement of Muslims who endanger the marchers, and not to view this as an excuse to cancel the traditional event with its Jewish significance for so many years.

Already last year, the police wanted to cancel the march, but Katsover and Matar rejected this demand, and argued that this would be a prize for Arab terror. They stated that to then, during all the years that the march was held, there had been no instances of friction between the marchers and the Muslims, a fact that the police itself admitted.

Last year’s march was postponed for a number of hours, and immediately after it the police announced that next year (that is, this year), it would not permit the march on the grounds of security sensitivity. Katsover and Matar argued that the atmosphere at the time planned for the next march could not be determined almost a year in advance. The police insisted on changing the route of the march as a condition for approving it. In response, Matar and Katsover appealed to the High Court of Justice by means of Adv. Aviad Hacohen.

They argued in their petition that this would harm an ancient Jewish tradition, give a prize to violent terror elements, harm Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, and more. Only two days after the filing of the petition, the police announced that it was changing its decision, and approved the original march route. Adv. Hacohen demanded from the police a written document confirming this position by the police, and once it was given to him, it was decided to withdraw the petition.

It should be recalled that the police already made similar claims eighteen years ago, regarding the danger liable to arise as a result of the encounter between the marchers and Muslims. Women in Green, by means of Adv. Hacohen, appealed to the High Court of Justice, and their petition was accepted. The Court ordered the police to permit the march and enable it to be held along the planned route, except for minor changes.

The bottom line is that the Tisha be-Av eve march around the walls of the Old City will be held this year as well, with a police permit, and with many participants. The march will begin with the reading of Lamentations, at 10:00 p.m. Saturday night in Independence Park in the center of Jerusalem, Agron street, and the march itself will set out from there at 11:00 p.m.

Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin, the chairman of the Eretz Israel lobby Prof. Aryeh Eldad, MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, Rabbi Shalom Gold, Yehudah Etzion, and Aryeh Klein are expected to attend the event and speak at the Lion’s Gate

Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar summarize yet another successful struggle:
“The true satisfaction is not from receiving the permit to march, but in seeing the masses of Jews marching on Tisha be-Av eve, ‘voting with their feet,’ and expressing their loyalty to sovereign Jerusalem, saying: No more Exile! We are marching in our eternal capital, to which we take an oath of loyalty on our wedding day. Our feet stood, and will stand, in your gates, Jerusalem.”

for details:
Yehudit Katsover – 050-7161818, Nadia Matar – 050-5500834
www.womeningreen.org