Parade or Provocation?

It was beyond doubt the most imposing display of military might the Middle East had seen since the Six-Day War. As 300,000 Israelis and tourists thronged the streets of Jerusalem, hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces rumbled along past the gray wall surrounding the biblical Old City in a parade celebrating Israel's 25th anniversary.

Two thousand troops--including miniskirted Women's Army Corps members carrying submachine guns --marched briskly along the city's ancient streets. More than 400 aircraft, led by Air Force Commanding General Mordechai Hod in a Phantom fighter-bomber, roared overhead in precision formations; in one configuration, twelve Mirage fighters formed a Star of David. On the heavily guarded reviewing stand were President Zalman Shazar, Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff David Elazar.

For most Israelis, the parade was a thoroughly satisfying--and justified--demonstration of their nation's sophisticated war machinery. Not everyone, though, was all that happy about it. Dayan and Foreign Minister Abba Eban initially opposed the idea of a military parade during the celebrations. Dayan argued that it was a needless expenditure of $6,000,000. Both, however, closed ranks with the rest of the Cabinet once the decision was made.

Others felt that it was unnecessarily provocative--especially since the chosen line of march went through the Israeli-occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Said Yoram Kaniuk, an Israeli writer and journalist: "Before the Six-Day War there was some justification for showing the Arabs we had muscle. But not now. We are going to look like the Russians with this sort of thing."

The two groups most upset by the impressive show of force were ultra-Orthodox Jews and Jerusalem's 70,000 Arabs. Members of a strict Jewish sect called Natorei Karta (Guardians of the Wall) dressed in sackcloth because the parade took place on the second Monday after Passover, a sacred day of fast. As for the Arabs, many regarded it as a bitter reminder of past defeats. "It was an Israeli invasion," grumbled one young Arab doctor, who watched the show on television.

A few Arabs were more resigned. "Ma'alesh [No matter]," sighed one shopkeeper in the Old City. "What can we do? They have taken all our land already. What difference does the parade make?" Very little, apparently, to some of his Arab colleagues. With the center of Jerusalem sealed off for the parade, many shopkeepers simply took off for a day's vacation at Jericho or resorts on the Dead Sea.

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