Ceremony held in memory of fallen civilians
At memorial service at train depot in Haifa, where direct Katyusha hit killed eight civilians in Second Lebanon War, bereaved families demand not to differentiate them from bereaved IDF families
Before the official memorial ceremony for the Second Lebanon War on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, on Monday evening, bereaved families participated in the Journey of Life motorcade that started at a ceremony in Kfar Giladi, where 12 reserve soldiers were killed during the war, and continued to border-mark 105 where the two soldiers – Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – were kidnapped in the incident that started the war.
The Journey of Life went through a number of points symbolizing the Lebanon war, including the train depot in Haifa where a direct Katyusha hit killed eight civilians.
Meshulam Damti, whose son Asael was killed in the train depot, said: "The home front has became the front. There is no difference between civilian blood and military blood and there must never be. I believe that policy makers will eventually include us in the Israeli family of bereavement and make us part of the Yad Lebanim organization"
Memorial service at Haifa train depot (Photo: Doron Golan)
Sergio Scheinbrum from Moshav Mei-Ami lost his son in Lebanon. At the Haifa ceremony he recited the names of the dozens of casualties in the war, civilians and soldiers.
Olmert go home!
He mentioned the prime minister who was not scheduled to take part in the ceremony planned at Mount Herzl: "They (the soldiers) did not flee or hide like Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is shunning responsibility…
"Show some maturity and responsibility. Go! Retire! Pay the price for your shortcomings and failures. The price you pay will be less significant than the price we are paying for your failures," he said.
Some of the parents also held posters calling on Olmert to take responsibility and resign.
Three bereaved parents who lost their children in a bus bombing in Haifa also joined the ceremony. They are taking part in the struggle to unite the victims of terrorism with fallen soldiers. They said that although a joint ceremony was being held, they still had a long struggle ahead of them.
At the end of the ceremony in Haifa, the participants sang Hatikva and took off for Jerusalem for the official ceremony. Next week, on the anniversary of the Katyusha hit on the train depot a new memorial monument for the eight victims will be inaugurated. A train station in central Haifa will be named after them.
"Memory is of the utmost importance. We have no life without memorial," said Ariela Goldman, who lost her son Noam in the war.
