Acting President Dalia Itzik said Sunday that Israel would not forget its obligation to abducted Israel Defense Forces soldiers, during an address to the official Memorial Day ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.

"We will remember the wounded and our obligation to bring back the abducted [soldiers] who are being held by Hamas and Hezbollah as well as our obligation to seek information on the fate of missing troops," added Itzik.

Israelis across the country stood at attention Sunday as sirens wailed to signal the beginning of Memorial Day for Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks.

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The sounding of the siren was followed by memorial ceremonies throughout the country. The official ceremony was held the Western Wall in Jerusalem, with the participation of Itzik, other public officials, senior officers and bereaved families.

"The war for the establishment of independence is still ongoing and the road to peace and security is still long," Itzik said. "We are surrounded by enemies who have yet to accept our existence and we must prepare to deal with threats from near and far."

"On this evening, in with the nation unites to remember the fallen, we must remember what we have thanks to them, the array of the achievements of the State of Israel, which is still young and fragile, wrought with storms and dealing with disparity, and is nonetheless a light unto the nations," she continued.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi also addressed the ceremony, saying: "59 years since the rebirth of the Jewish people, the IDF stands on guard for the nation and the land. We are the People of the Book, but we also know to grasp the sword when the time comes."

"The last year was a difficult one for Israel and the IDF, names have been added to the stone tablets, and rows have been added to the cemeteries," he said. "Often I am asked if we will swing the sword forever, when will we achieve peace and prosperity. I answer is clear and resolute: Only a high-quality and determined IDF based on the best of fighters can bring the region to recognize that negotiations must only be conducted at the negotiating table."

"We are not an army that desires war, but rather a defensive army, but if war is imposed upon us, we will do all that is necessary for the residents of Israel in their homes and tranquil borders," he continued.


"We have thoroughly investigated the last war and are engaged in correcting the malfunctions," the IDF chief added. "We must do all we can in order to worthy of the heroism of those who fought in that war."

Since the establishment of the first Jewish neighborhoods outside Jerusalem's Old City wall in 1860, the date of the beginning of the count of fatalities, 22,305 have been killed in battle.

Over the past year, 233 names have been added to the list, which includes injured veterans of the Israel Defense Forces who died this year.

Of this year's fallen, 119 were killed during the Second Lebanon War, which lasted 33 days and struck the home front as well: Since last Memorial Day, 66 civilians have been killed in hostile actions, 57 of them during the war, when thousands of rockets were fired from Lebanon on Israeli communities.

The number of civilians killed in hostile actions since the establishment of the state stands at 1,635, according to the National Insurance Institute.

Beginning Wednesday, small national flags have been placed on every military grave. The first was placed by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi on the grave of the soldier most recently buried on Mount Herzl: Staff Sergeant Matan Baskind of Mevasseret Zion, who was killed in an accident in the south at the start of the month.

Beginning Sunday evening, the names of all those killed and the date they fell will be screened on Channel 33. Places of entertainment will also be closed.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel has an obligation to fallen soldiers and their families to do all it can to avoid war and make peace.

During a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem held in the context of Memorial Day, the prime minister said Israel is attentive to what is being done by Arab states towards achieving peace.

"It is our obligation to the fallen soldiers and their families and all the citizens of Israel to do all we can in order to traverse the long road towards preventing war and making peace."

On Memorial Day, on Monday, a two-minute siren will sound at 11 A.M. Official ceremonies will be held in 43 military cemeteries throughout the country, attended by government ministers, MKs, officers and the bereaved families.

Flower growers have donated 600,000 blooms to create wreaths to lay on the graves.

Memorial Day will end Monday evening with the traditional torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, followed immediately by the opening of the festivities of Israel's 59th Independence Day.

Yesh Gvul, the movement for soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied territories, will hold an alternative torch-lighting ceremony Monday night at Emil Grunzweig Square opposite the Prime Minister's Office in the capital.

The torches will be lit with a call "to immediately stop the violence and occupation of the territories, to correct the injustices caused by Israeli society and to correct the attitude toward the weak among us," the organization said.

Among the torch-lighters will be a soldier who refused to serve in the war, a human rights activist, a peace activist and others. One of the torch-lighters will be Tali Fahima, who served a prison sentence for maintaining contact with members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin.