In what organizers called the largest gathering in the history of Jerusalem, more than a quarter of a million people thronged the streets around the walls of the Old City last night in a massive rally for the unity of Jerusalem.

With the words "Jerusalem, I pledge" projected onto the wall near Jaffa Gate and torches blazing along the ramparts, the crowd sang in unison, "If I forget thee o Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning."

Organizers estimated the turnout at some 400,000, while security officials were quoted as saying 300,000 people attended.

The rally, held under the slogan "Jerusalem, I pledge" and organized by Yisrael Ba'aliya leader Natan Sharansky, was unusual even for Israel, with its countless demonstrations and rallies - not so much for what it was as for what it was not.

The gathering was billed as non-partisan. Organizers took great care to ensure that no political signs were in evidence. The participants were not primarily from Judea, Samaria, the Gaza Strip, or the Jordan Valley; they were from the entire spectrum of Israeli society. They came from as far north as Kiryat Shmona and as far south as Eilat, and were native-born Israelis, new immigrants, and Diaspora Jews, Russian speakers and English speakers, religious and secular.

It was billed as a demonstration for the unity of Jerusalem, not against anything. In the words of one woman in the crowd, it was "an outpouring of love" for Jerusalem.

The highly diverse speakers at the rally - like the crowd - all pledged their allegiance to Jerusalem as Israel's eternal undivided capital.

"It is said about the nation of Israel that we have a long memory. At times it seems, however, that our memory is a bit weak," said Moshe Landau, former Supreme Court president and the rally's first speaker. "We tend to forget what Jerusalem was like before 1967, how the city was divided, and how all agreements regarding freedom of worship were broken by the other side," he added.

In a theme that was to recur in the evening's speeches, Landau said that Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, was of critical importance to the whole Jewish nation - not just in Israel but throughout the entire world.

"The state of Israel is not just the country of those who dwell in it. It belongs to all the Jews of the world. Just as we received the Temple Mount - the very heart of the Jewish people - we must pass it on to the generations that are to come after us."

Landau called on US President Bill Clinton to cease what he called his creative proposals for dividing the capital and giving sovereignty over the Temple Mount to the Palestinians.

Ronald Lauder, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he was appearing as a private individual, rather than as a representative of the group, due to internal debate over whether it should attend the rally.

"I stand here tonight not on behalf of any Jewish organization, but as an individual Jew, representing millions of Jews around the world from Manhattan to Moscow, from London to Budapest," he said . "All the world should know that you are not alone."

Saying that he had never felt such deep emotions in his life, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said that the demonstration gave voice to the people of Israel's deep connection to its eternal undivided capital.

"You have come from all corners of the land and even from abroad, to say we are here and we will remain here because this city is the basis of our very existence in this land," he told the crowd.

Olmert said that no other nation in the world wants peace as much as Israel does, "but no nation in the world was ever asked to give up its holiest treasures to placate another nation. We will not give up the most precious treasures of Jewish history."

Olmert again called on Clinton not to wreck eight years of friendship with his idea of dividing the city.

"Think about it, Mr. President," Olmert said. "For the sake of the Jewish people and for the sake of the city of Jerusalem, do not be the first president in the history of America who has proposed dividing the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish people."

Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu who like many other right-wing politicians attended, but did not speak at the gathering, told reporters that the demonstration sent out a message to the entire world that Jerusalem would never be divided.

"Jerusalem is our heart, our soul, and the center of our being. We cannot tear our heart in two, and we will never, ever divide Jerusalem," he said.

Netanyahu added that the hundreds of thousands who flocked to the capital showed the Jews' ancient link to the city, reminiscent of the ancient custom of making pilgrimages on foot to the capital during the major holidays.

"Jerusalem is a city that transcends government, politics, even time itself and connects the mothers and fathers of its past to the children and grandchildren of its future," said Tom Rose, publisher and CEO of The Jerusalem Post, who spoke at the event. "On behalf of our readers and listeners around the world, we stand with... you, our fellow citizens of Jerusalem - to promise our love for our city and our prayer that we, like all who came before us, will never, ever forget her."

"Together with the liberation of Jerusalem 33 years ago, some of the Jewish people living captive in the former USSR were also liberated," said Avital Sharansky, wife of Yisrael Be'Aliya leader and rally organizer Natan Sharansky, and one of the last speakers at the three-hour event.

"The liberation of Jerusalem allowed all Jews to lead fuller Jewish lives, and the heart of the nation now beats again strongly," she said.