JERUSALEM Cheap Leo Weinkauf Jersey , April 23 (Xinhua) -- As Israel marked its annual Memorial Day for soldier and civilian casualties of armed conflict with Arab countries, some 3,200 Israelis and Palestinians from the West Bank gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night to commemorate victims of violence from both sides.
BILINGUAL SERVICE
The ceremony, held for the tenths consecutive year under the title: "Making Peace: Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day," was broadcast live in Beit Jala, a Palestinian town east of Jerusalem, where dozens of Palestinian activists denied entry permits to Israel gathered to watch it.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu congratulated the attendants in a special video-message. "Change is possible," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran anti-apartheid campaigner told them. "Consider our experience in South Africa Cheap Kingsley Coman Jersey , you can make it happen in Palestine and Israel too," he said.
Official Israeli memorial services typically glorify the bravery of Israeli soldiers in battle and emphasize the importance of military power. Under Israeli law, Memorial Day commemorates only Israeli soldiers or civilian casualties of "hostile activities."
The "Alternative Ceremony," as it came to be known, is organized by Combatants for Peace, former Israeli and Palestinian fighters currently working towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict, along with the Parents Circle-Family Forum, a group of bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families.
"We recognize each other's pain Cheap Juan Bernat Jersey ," Avner Horwitz, whose father was killed in a 1990 Palestinian attack on an Israeli tourist bus in Egypt, told Xinhua.
"The understanding that we are not only victims of the conflict but also its perpetrators led us to call for change to end the cycle of bereavement," he added.
The service was hosted by an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, in both Hebrew and Arabic.
An Israeli mother of a fallen soldier shared her pain with the audience, followed by a 27-year-old Palestinian from the village of Salem in the West Bank, who recounted how her father was killed by a Jewish settler in September 2004.
Youth from the Dheisha refugee camp south of Bethlehem sent a video greeting, saying that many more wished to attend the ceremony but the Israeli military only issued 100 permits.
COMMEMORATION AMIDST A YEAR OF GREAT LOSS
The past year witnessed increased animosity between Israelis and Palestinians