The reason is because it might offend the city's residents. :confused:
WPost Story

Tel Aviv is really Israel's more modern metropolis. Jerusalem, as the center of religios life for Israeli's (not to mention many Muslims and Christians) is home to a more religious, conservative populace. The article doesn't say where the parade would have been staged. I assume they weren't going to parade through the old city. East Jerusalem is mostly Palestinian with a smattering of Israeli "settlers," 'nuf said. West Jerusalem is not so very different from Tel Aviv and I shouldn't think a parade there would be too problematic. The article says they've had them before with only minor incident. I suspect this is a "political" issue.

I have to disagree with both characterizations. Jerusalem is essentially three sections: the Old City, West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem. While East Jerusalem is predominately Arab, using the term "settlers" in what seems to be a pejorative sense is unfair. Most of the Jewish neighborhoods in Eastern Jerusalem are essentially suburban neighborhoods. As for Western Jerusalem, it is very different from Tel Aviv. While it may be the capitol of the country and the focus of three of the worlds major religions, Jerusalem is not a cosmopolitan city. Tel Aviv feels like any mid-size western city. Jerusalem is far more the small city, large town. As a resident of Texas, I think of it as the difference between Fort Worth and Austin.

However, I have to say I'm dissappointed by the move on the part of the Jerusalem city council. If I remember correctly, the end of the parade is a rally at Gan haPa'amon (Liberty Bell Park) which is probably the most secular location in a city with a paucity of those. It is not terribly disruptive. This is a city in which the cetral district is entirely unpassable by car or foot during Independence Day celebrations. They can handle a few queers in the streets.

I wasn't trying to be perjorative but merely to indicate that in some respects Jewish residents of these areas of East Jerusalem share similar political leanings with inhabitants of Jewish settlements elsewhere on the West Bank. I was trying to indicate that while the population of East Jerusalem is predominantly Palestinian, there are Jewish neighborhoods in the area. However, given the unanswered political questions regarding the ultimate status of these neighborhoods, established as they are on land that prior to 1967 was not part of Israel, the residents of these areas, by and large, also tend to support conservative political parties.

West Jerusalem, where the population is also predominantly Jewish, while not a twin to Tel Aviv, is clearly the more cosmopolitan area of the city, more liberal politically by comparison with its eastern counterpart and therefore the most similar area of Jerusalem to the more cosmopolitan, and politically liberal Tel Aviv. Consequently most suitable as a setting for such an event. I can't imagine a pride event in the Old City or any part of East Jerusalem.

[ June 24, 2005, 10:29 AM: Message edited by: Torgauer ]

And that was the characterization I would disagree with. Even Ma'aleh Adumim, which is the East Jerusalem neighborhood most often mentioned as a settlement in these conversations is merely a Jerusalem bedroom community with little ideological homogeny. "Settlement" has become a charged word in that region with a very specific meaning, as has "Settler." I think it is necessary to be very careful when applying it to be sure that it is appropriate.

As for the discussion of West Jerusalem, here we're running into relativistic issues. Yes, West Jerusalem is more like Tel Aviv than East Jerusalem is like Tel Aviv. However, I would say West Jerusalem is more like East Jerusalem, and certainly the Old City, than West Jerusalem is like Tel Aviv.