Two years ago, on June 30, 2005, a religious Jewish man stabbed three people during clashes between the ultra Orthodox Jewish community and the gay and lesbian community in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

In 2006, due to a wave of extreme protest from Orthodox groups, Jerusalem’s Gay Pride street parade was cancelled, and instead people celebrated inside a sports stadium where at least their safety could be somewhat guaranteed.

This year, with good reason, the security was tighter than ever in order to protect the marchers in what is arguably Jerusalem’s most controversial annual demonstration.

As a former Sydney-sider, who has enjoyed many a Sydney Mardi Gras, this was a whole new experience for me. As I left my Jerusalem office on Thursday last week, I discovered to my dismay that all the main roads leading to the city centre had been closed off to traffic and in place of the normal end of day traffic jams, there were literally thousands of police, soldiers and medics.

Hundreds of street barricades had been set up from the night before, and forced the swelling crowd of regular (and somewhat frustrated) commuters just trying to get home, parade supporters, Orthodox Yeshiva students practicing their best heckling efforts and a healthy sprinkling of curious onlookers to squeeze into a small space along the side of the road.

At a cost to the Israeli tax payer of some 13,000,000 New Israeli Shekels (approximately 3.6 million Australian dollars) some 8,000 police safe-guarded the march this year, which only attracted about 2,000 people, despite the hopeful parade organizers anticipation of 5,000 marchers.

Included in the impenetrable security were 200 medics, 45 ambulances, 11 mobile intensive care units and a field command center with additional medics on standby.

From my viewpoint on the street, I could see wall-to-wall police and army units standing guard with guns, batons and bullet proof vests. Looking above, I could even see police on the roof of the nearby King Solomon hotel and a helicopter above surveying the crowd below.

I stood and waited patiently in the sweltering Israeli summer heat, hoping for a glimpse of this infamous parade. To see, with my own eyes, exactly what all the fuss was about.

The parade itself runs a mere 500 metres down King David Street, and hardly has the opportunity to move because of the sheer number of people squashed into such a small stretch of road.

Instead, the parade marchers, and a very sedate, polite group at that, patiently stood in place, waving the odd banner such as “Democracy In, Violence Out” and “Love without Boundaries” and held up high a multi-coloured archway of balloons, signifying the rainbow flag, the international symbol of gay and lesbian community pride.

Safely behind barriers and a wall of policemen, stood the protesters. In stark contrast to the colourfully-clad crowd of marchers, these dour men in their signature Orthodox black and white clothes held up placards like “Get Well Soon”.

Still, to go back my comparison of Sydney’s world-famous event, there was not a float or drag queen in sight – and the thought of a group of gay and lesbian police or military personnel marching down Jerusalem’s streets is sadly, an unimaginable vision.

The man next to me on his mobile phone was obviously reporting the events to a friend. “No, no music. It’s not Tel Aviv.”

Nearby a group of religious young American men discussed the parade amongst themselves; “It’s a sickness”, said one.

“Yes, but I think they can be cured” contemplated his friend.

“You make me sick!” yelled an angry dreadlocked American girl. “Do you realise you are shitting on God’s words?”

The incensed girl and some of her friends entered into a war of words with the religious boys which soon erupted into a brief, but volatile scuffle, causing the police to intervene and scores of photographers eagerly waiting to snap up a controversial photo that would grace the pages of tomorrow’s papers.

In the middle of all this chaos, a tour group of young American students got stuck in a bottleneck on the pavement. Their group leader at the front turned around and yelled to his bewildered charges “Just push! Push your way through.”

Meanwhile, a nearby Italian bistro with a birds-eye view of the action was doing a roaring trade, although I am sure the majority of the customers weren’t so hungry for the food as they were the hope of catching a piece of the action.

As I finally made my way through this nightmarish crowd, I turned back and looked behind me.

I realised all of a sudden how utterly different an environment I was now living in. I am not suggesting that Australia doesn’t have its fair share of homophobes and angry protesters, but who could imagine Sydney’s world famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras reduced to Fort Knox-like military protection because a bunch of crazy people who despite proclaiming their intense religious convictions believe it is perfectly acceptable to physically hurt – even kill – another human being because they disagree with their personal lifestyle choice.

Funny, last time I checked, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” was one of the Top 10 No-no’s.

When most of the world thinks of Israel; their minds turn to the Middle East conflict and no doubt conjures up images of war-torn cities with bombs going off every five minutes. Well, I can assure you that my life is not remotely like you would imagine it, and in fact, is gratifyingly normal most of the time.

Some of the greatest battles being fought in this country are not between Jew and Arab, but between Jew and Jew. If only we could conjure up some compassion for one another, we might be able to start fixing some of our myriad other problems.