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Unique Memorial Ceremony Unites Israelis, Palestinians

Akiva Eldar took part in an alternative Memorial Day ceremony where Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families shared their pain and their hopes for a better future.
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“In their death they willed us life.”

This is the immortal final line of the poem “Should Your Soul Wish to Know” by Israel’s national poet, Haim Nachman Bialik, which has become the link connecting the Memorial Day ceremonies with the festivities of the Independence Day — just like the barrage of colorful fireworks at the end of the “main event” on Mount Herzl ending Memorial Day. In the year that has passed since the last Memorial Day, an additional 92 IDF soldiers “willed us their lives” as did 10 victims of terror attacks. Since 1870, 23,085 IDF soldiers and 2,493 victims of terror attacks have “willed us their lives.”

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