Katsav: We don't want our children to know war

President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used their Memorial Day speeches Tuesday night to express their hopes that the memory of the soldiers who died to protect the country will help bring about a peaceful future.

"The memory of those fallen is a vow to defend the state, to avoid war and to achieve peace ... a vow to be worthy of their memory," Katsav said at the main state ceremony, which took place at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem and began with the one-minute siren that sounded throughout the country at 8 P.M.

"We are making every effort to make sure the next generation can lay down arms and turn its attention to development and building," said Katsav.

"The entire Jewish people stand before you at attention and bow our heads in remembrance of those fallen ... to whose credit the state of Israel arose, developed and thrived," the president said.

"The struggle for sovereignty and independence exacted a heavy price from us," he said. "The price of defending our home is very dear."

Ahead of the state ceremony, Sharon told the families of fallen soldiers that paying the price of war causes people to do what they can to prevent future fighting.

"Whoever has seen and known from up close the most terrible cost of accursed war will forever vow to do everything he can to prevent the next generation, the children of today, the soldiers of tomorrow from [experiencing] the cost of war, so as to illuminate the future of Israel with the prospect of security and peace," he said in a possible allusion to the disengagement plan.

"The lives of the fallen have been stopped in the middle, but they have fallen so that the life of the nation of Israel shall not desist," Sharon said at Jerusalem's Yad Lebanim memorial hall for Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, senior Israel Defense Forces officers and bereaved families attended the ceremony at the Western Wall.

"We came to remember those who will forever remain in our imaginations, young people who were full of life, close to us yet so far, those with whom we went into the night and never got to see the light of day again," Ya'alon said in his remarks.

"The people of Israel know the price of independence," Ya'alon said.

Hundreds of ceremonies began at the same time at various locations throughout the country, with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz attending the main event in Rishon Letzion.

Last year, 169 soldiers and 63 civilians were added to the total number of Israelis killed in wars and acts of terror.

Wednesday's Memorial Day events will begin with the sounding of a two-minute siren at 11 A.M., to be followed by ceremonies at military cemeteries throughout the country.

Memorial Day will close Wednesday evening at 8 P.M. with the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem that kicks off the Independence Day celebrations.

	IDF soldiers mourning Tuesday at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. (Reuters)