Just a few hours before Israel's 63rd Independence Day celebrations begin, the nation united today in mourning and remembrance of those who gave their lives for the achievement of the country's independence and its continued existence.

The proximity of Memorial Day to Independence Day is intended to remind people of the heavy price paid for independence. On this day the entire nation remembers its debt and expresses eternal gratitude to its sons and daughters. Families and friends of 22,867 fallen soldiers and 2,443 terror victims assembled in cemeteries throughout the country to pay their respects as a two-minute air-raid siren shattered the silence and pierced the heart and the soul.

In the military plot of the Mount of Olives Cemetary, as elsewhere around the country, active IDF soldiers and officers of the Paratroopers Brigade in their red berets escorted the bereaved families to the graves of their loved ones as an act of participation and to let them know the nation recognizes and honors their sacrifice and will not abandon the families. Knesset Speaker Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin represented the parliament in the ceremony.