Peres promised UTJ to block J'lem gay parade
By Yair Ettinger, Jonathan Lis and Yuval Yoaz
Shimon Peres' election as president was preceded by innumerable phone calls and meetings between the candidate and his men, on one side, and Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community leaders on the other. One proposal that was raised called for Degel Hatorah, a faction of United Torah Judaism, to support Peres in exchange for his promise to block the Gay Pride parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem next Thursday - or at least to move it away from the center of the capital. No deal was made, but aides to Peres confirmed Thursday night that the president-elect opposes holding the parade in Jerusalem.
All 12 MKs of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party voted for Peres in Wednesday's presidential vote, for reasons that had nothing to do with the Gay Pride event. The six UTJ MKs - with the exception of Avraham Ravitz, who openly supported Reuven Rivlin for the post - have maintained a party-imposed silence regarding their votes.
While there is no way to know for sure how the other five voted, it would appear from analyses carried out by the Peres and Rivlin campaign headquarters, as well as from comments made by MKs, that Peres had the support of at least three: Yaakov Litzman, Shmuel Halpert and Yaakov Cohen. Moshe Gafni and MK Meir Porush are believed to have supported Rivlin.
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Haaretz learned Thursday about the role played by the parade in Peres's talks with Degel Hatorah, whose two MKs are Ravitz and Moshe Gafni. Officials in Peres's office issued the following statement in response: "[Peres's] stance on the march in Jerusalem is known. He has in the past publicly stated that Jerusalem is a city that is holy to three religions and that it has enough problems."
On Wednesday, the police finally decided to issue a permit for the parade, which pleased officials from Jerusalem Open House, the event's sponsor.
However, the permit came with strings attached: The parade route was truncated severely, to only a few hundred meters, and only 5,000 marchers will be allowed to participate. Although that was the number on the permit request, organizers had hoped for 7,500 participants. In addition, organizers will have to hire about 160 security guards, at their own expense, to beef up the 7,000 police officers set to patrol the parade, the expected protest demonstrations and the post-parade party in Liberty Bell Park.
Both the organizers and the police fear violence during the march, after an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed and wounded three marchers during the 2005 parade. The local gay community has therefore been divided in recent weeks over whether to hold the march in downtown Jerusalem, despite the risk of confrontation with the hostile population living in the area, or to move it to the government office compound, which the police favored because of the relative ease of maintaining security there. Ultimately, the organizers opted for a downtown route, but as a precaution, they did not include Keren Hayesod Street, on which the Great Synagogue is located.
The permit calls for marchers to assemble at the intersection of Hess and King David Streets between 5 and 6:30 P.M. next Thursday and proceed to Liberty Bell Park. While the route is close to the center of town, it avoids residential neighborhoods and major gathering places.
Police are expecting the city's ultra-Orthodox community to respond strongly to news of the permit for the parade. Last year's attempt to hold the World Pride parade in the capital resulted in violent demonstrations in which protesters burned large waste receptacles and blocked intersections.
Meanwhile, the state has been ordered to respond by Monday to a High Court of Justice petition filed by right-wing activists seeking to stop the parade on the grounds that it will provoke "unprecedented violence."
Peres promised UTJ to block J'lem gay parade
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