ISRAEL/JERUSALEM: Israel comes to a standstill for two minutes to mark Memorial Day

Record ID: 401313

  • Title: ISRAEL/JERUSALEM: Israel comes to a standstill for two minutes to mark Memorial Day
  • Date: 23rd April 2007
  • Summary: (BN09) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (APRIL 23, 2007) (REUTERS) ISRAELIS CROSSING STREET, THEN STANDING STILL AS SIREN SOUNDS MAN HOLDING ISRAELI FLAG STANDING STILL MORE OF ISRAELIS STANDING STILL CLOSE-UP OF MAN, SIREN HEARD
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD4VMCANY35BZAIHZHLV3OVZ98
  • Story Text: Life in Israel came to a standstill for two minutes on Monday (April 23), the country's Memorial Day, as people remembered 22,305 Israelis killed in battles or attacks since 1860.
    Traffic stopped and pedestrians stood still for two minutes at 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) as sirens sounded across the region.
    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attended an official Memorial Day ceremony at Jersalem's Mount Herzl cemetery.
    Addressing bereaved families and Israeli officials, Olmert spoke of the importance of achieving a peace with Israel's Arab neighbours.
    "(We have) to provide you, bereaved families, with a supportive shoulder, to adopt you to our hearts in brotherhood and joint destiny," he said.
    "To not let go and not despair of the faith and the essential effort to achieve longed-for peace, peace with security. To seriously examine every political initiative, to exhaust each and every chance, to be prepared for far-reaching compromises and to very painful concessions, so long as our essential and existential interests are safeguarded to fulfil our strong ambition for peace."
    The first Jewish neighbourhoods were established outside Jerusalem's Old City in 1860. The state of Israel was formed in 1948.
    In the past year, 233 names have been added to the list, including 119 Israeli soldiers killed in battles during the war in Lebanon last year against Hezbollah guerrillas.
    Since the last Memorial Day, 66 Israeli civilians have been killed in hostile actions. Fifty-seven civilians were killed during last year's war, when thousands of rockets were fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah militants, onto northern Israeli communities.
    Memorial day will end at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) when Israel shifts from mourning to celebration, marking the 59th anniversary of the establishment of the state.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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