At-Home with Gila Svirsky

Jerusalem
25 April 2001
Subject: Israeli Independence/Memorial Days

Friends,

Today is Memorial Day in Israel, and this year Israel marks the death of 19,312 Israelis killed in wars with our neighbors. I imagine that a similar, if not larger, number of Arabs have been killed in these same wars. The suffering compounded across families and loved ones defies comprehension.

Tonight we mark Independence Day in Israel, simultaneous with the Palestinian commemoration of the Naqba, their marking of the same event, but in terms of the tragedy of their own lost lands and lives.

Would that we are able someday soon, in our lifetimes, to jointly mark Memorial Day for those killed on both sides, and celebrate Independence Day together, commemorating not only two sovereign states living peacefully side by side, but our common liberation from war.

If you will it, it is no legend. (Theodore Herzl)