Treasure Trove celebrates Jerusalem Day and examines a controversial tradition

After Jerusalem was divided, with the Old City remaining under Jordanian control from 1948, it was united on June 7, 1967, during the Six-Day War. Before 1967, half of the Old City’s 58 synagogues were destroyed and Jews were prohibited from visiting holy sites, including the Western Wall.

In 1968, Israel’s government proclaimed a new holiday, Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), to be celebrated on the 28th of Iyar, the date in the Jewish calendar when the city was united. This year, it falls on Monday, May 26.

This pennant celebrates Israel’s 22nd Independence Day in 1970. On the reverse, it pays tribute to the Israel Defence Forces for liberating the Old City, depicting Israel’s military leadership during the Six-Day War.

Haim Bar-Lev became the IDF deputy chief of staff immediately before the war and then served as chief of staff from 1968 to 1971. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he was recalled by then–prime minister Golda Meir to replace the chief of the Southern Command. This change was critical in reestablishing control of a chaotic situation.

Moshe Dayan was appointed minister of defence four days before the war started. Together with Yitzhak Rabin, he directed operations during the war. His hero status didn’t last, and he was pilloried for Israel’s lack of preparation prior to the Yom Kippur War. Four years later, as foreign minister in Menachem Begin’s government, he was one of the chief architects of the Camp David Accords that resulted in peace with Egypt.

Yitzhak Rabin was chief of staff during the war, and subsequently served a number of terms as prime minister. He, too, was involved in initiatives designed to allow Israel to live in peace, signing agreements with Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords in 1992 and a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. He was assassinated in 1995.

Jerusalem means City of Peace. Ironically, Jerusalem Day is annually celebrated with a flag march, a portion of which runs through the Old City. For some, the march is controversial. Is it a celebration, a statement or a provocation? Would the war heroes and peacemakers who united Jerusalem approve? Does it help Jerusalem live up to the meaning of its name as a city of peace, or does it make that harder?