Sirens wailing, Israel comes to a halt to mark Memorial Day

JERUSALEM - Sirens wailed across Israel Wednesday, bringing the nation to a standstill in a solemn two-minute ritual on the country's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks.Pedestrians stood at attention and motorists stepped out of their cars, halting traffic as the sirens rang out. Radio and TV programming were interrupted for the two minutes. Memorial Day is one of the most somber and emotional days on the Israeli calendar, with nearly every Israeli family touched by decades of conflict. It comes a day before the country celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence."This special day wipes away our divisions. The feeling of unity and shared destiny is stronger than ever," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a ceremony at Mount Herzl, the country's national military cemetery. "Memorial Day is a sad day, but free of any disagreements and very Israeli."Earlier in the day, Israeli tanks and bulldozers rumbled through the southern Gaza Strip and aircraft struck a series of targets. One militant was killed and at least 14 Palestinians, one a civilian, were wounded in the fighting, according to witnesses and medical officials.Palestinian witnesses said a total of 25 tanks and armored bulldozers entered Abassan, an area east of Khan Younis, setting off battles with local militants.One attack struck a group of Palestinians who were using abandoned houses as cover, witnesses said. A gunman of the Islamic Jihad group was killed and another group member was wounded, said Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry.An earlier strike hit six members of the militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip. Three of the men were in critical condition, Hassanain said.Resident Sami al-Najar said the militants were standing near a house and fired a rocket-propelled grenade toward a tank before that airstrike. Some of the wounded were in the house and others were taken away in a private car that came under fire by the Israelis, he said. He also claimed the army fired at ambulances that came to the scene.Seven other Palestinians, all militants except one civilian, were wounded in two other airstrikes, medical officials said.The Israeli army said it carried out two airstrikes to target gunmen near the troops.Israel frequently conducts raids and airstrikes in Gaza in an effort to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israeli towns. Israel also has imposed a blockade on Gaza to pressure the area's Hamas rulers, whom it holds responsible for the rocket fire.In Israel, people marked Memorial Day by attending ceremonies at military cemeteries. Radio stations played somber music and devoted programs to retelling the stories of soldiers killed in battle.Schools held solemn memorial services and the Israeli flag flew at half-staff and places of entertainment, such as movie houses and restaurants, were closed.While the somber mood is respected nearly universally among Jewish Israelis, some ultra-Orthodox Jews who oppose the Jewish state on religious grounds and Palestinian pedestrians continued about their business during the sirens in Jerusalem.Since 1860, the year Jews first began settling in neighborhoods outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, 22,437 have been killed in wars and attacks, according to the Defense Ministry.During its six decades, Israel has fought many wars, starting in 1948, when Arab nations refused to recognize its creation.Israel took part in a French-British war against Egypt in 1956, fought its neighbors in 1967 and again in 1973, invaded Lebanon in 1982 and again in 2006, and battled Palestinian uprisings from 1987-93 and another one that began in 2000. In the past year, 132 soldiers and civilians were killed, among them soldiers killed in battle with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.Haim Tzemah, the father of an Israeli Army sergeant killed in the 2006 war against Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, said bereaved families do not need the day to remember their loved ones."We remember him every minute, every hour, every day, all the time," he said."It is a national day in which the society in Israel does its soul searching and looks back and sees the price we paid to get here. And we paid a very, very, very heavy price, the heaviest you can pay," he said.
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