Jerusalem, 14 April, 2021 (TPS) — Gush Etzion was the scene of a moving encounter on Wednesday, when Israel marked its Memorial Day, as Tamar Shachar, 92, visited Gush Etzion and the Lone Oak Tree with her family for the first time ever, to see where her brother Yosef (Yoske) Nadav was killed in the 1948 battle defending Gush Etzion.
Tamar was a soldier in the Palmach’s Fifth Battalion in the Harel Brigade and accompanied convoys to Jerusalem during that time.
Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman said that visit and Yoske’s story are “a valued connection of our heritage to this land and symbolize our resurrection.”
The visit came on Yom Ha’Zikaron, a day in which Israel remembers its soldiers lost in battle, and those killed in terror attacks. In Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, Gush Etzion residents paid tribute to those who fell in battle or were taken prisoners of war while defending the Gush, on May 13, 1948, the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Following the ceremony, Shachar and her family paid a visit to the Gush Etzion Heritage Center.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Member of Knesset Simcha Rothman paid tribute to Zvi Lifshitz and Yechezkel Berlovitz, counselors from the “Religious Guard” movement from South Africa who fell defending Gush Etzion, along with Ari Fuld, who was murdered by an Arab terrorist at the Gush Junction two years ago.
“There is no place like Gush Etzion which represents a connection between Memorial Day and Independence Day, between fighters who fell defending our country and the development and settling of the Land of Israel,” he said.
Ne’eman added during the ceremony that “the tombstones of our soldiers here are the cornerstones of the building of our nation. But it is important to remember on this day, and especially at this time, that there is one flag which belongs to all of us which is lowered, and tonight we will raise it to the top, symbolizing the resurrection of our kingdom.”
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