Israel began celebrating 61 years of statehood at sundown on Tuesday in an abrupt and symbolic break from the commemoration of Remembrance Day.
The celebrations were officially launched with the lighting of torches at a ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem attended by hundreds of Israeli and foreign dignitaries.
Thousands of police and army forces were deployed across the country and Israel sealed off the occupied West Bank ahead of the Remembrance Day and Independence Day events, fearing Palestinian militant attacks.
Independence Day ceremonies will continue on Wednesday with air force and naval parades to the mark the 61st anniversary under the Jewish calendar of the end of the British mandate in Palestine on May 14, 1948.
Remembrance Day honours soldiers and civilians killed since Jews first settled outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City in 1860.
No comments:
Post a Comment