With Hamas running Gaza on Israel's south-west border, Fatah attempting to take over Judea and Samaria in eastern Israel, Iranian-backed Hizbullah terrorists and allied pro-Syrian forces are fighting the Lebanese army - and have taken over parts of Beirut.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when the pro-Syrian minority, which includes several Hizbullah ministers, demanded more representation in the Cabinet. The Western-backed government coalition has been struggling for months with the Hizbullah terrorist-led faction to retain control of the country while other Arab nations are eyeing the situation with increasing concern.

State-Run TV, Beirut Under Hizbullah Control
The Iranian and Syrian-backed terrorist organization seized large parts of the Lebanese capital and yanked the state-run Future News television station, owned by coalition leader Sa’ad al-Hariri, off the air. 

“An army officer accompanied by members of Hizbullah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission. We are off the air,” said a senior station official quoted by Reuters News Agency. 

Royal Jordanian Airlines suspended flights to the embattled nation, joining Middle East Airlines, the Lebanese national carrier, in ending traffic in and out of Beirut indefinitely. Anti-Syrian leaders have charged that Hizbullah last week set up surveillance cameras on approaches the airport to spy on government officials.

Saudi Arabia called for a meeting of Arab leaders on the situation as the death toll mounted. Security sources said at least 10 people were dead, including a mother and her son, and 20 others were wounded as fighting continued Friday for the third day in a row.

Terrified civilians stayed indoors as Hizbullah guerrillas fired assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and heavy machine guns at government forces. Plumes of heavy smoke rose from cars and shops in several mixed Sunni and Shiite districts in the capital where some of the heaviest fighting took place.

Nasrallah Warns Against Disarming Hizbullah
Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah claimed the Lebanese government had declared war by outlawing its telecommunications network, which it called “the most important part of the weapons of the resistance.”

The government deemed the independent Hizbullah land lines and private communications system a threat to national security. After a marathon 11-hour meeting that stretched from Monday night into Tuesday morning, the Cabinet also decided to fire airport security chief Brig.-Gen. Wafiq Shoukair for alleged ties to the terrorist group, further enraging Hizbullah. It also said Hizbullah has been flying weapons from Iran on a routine basis.

“The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war… on the resistance and its weapons, in the interest of America and Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that he himself was “not declaring war,” but was “declaring a decision of self-defense.

“Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off,” warned Nasrallah in a speech broadcast live on TV Thursday by a videolink hookup from a secret hideout. Nasrallah almost never appears in public due to his fears of assassination by Israeli operatives.

Hizbullah Cut Off Airport, Ties to Outside World
The fighting began Wednesday when Hizbullah supporters blocked Beirut streets on Wednesday with burning barricades, paralyzing the capital. Activists claimed they were enforcing a national strike, forcing a showdown in the ongoing government crisis.

Rioters torched vehicles, smashed windows and blocked the main road to Beirut International Airport, the nation’s only air link to the outside world. Most main arteries in and out of the capital were cut off and by the end of the day the border with Syria had been shut down as well.

Government officials warned the economy would crash within days due to the inevitable drop in tourism if the situation is not resolved.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under police investigation for accepting cash bribes from wealthy cronies, including a well-known American businessman. The details of the suspicions against the Prime Minister were released Thursday night when a Tel Aviv District Court partially lifted a gag order on details of the case.
Some aspects of the case will remain under wraps.

Earlier Thursday night, police officials met with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and agreed to a partial lifting of the gag order. Some aspects of the case will remain under wraps, officials said.

According to details of the police probe released to the media, Olmert is under investigation for receiving bribes from one or more wealthy contributors during his terms as mayor of Jerusalem and as Minister of Industry and Trade. One of those suspected of giving significant amounts of cash to Olmert is Morris (Moshe) Talansky, a 75-year-old American Jewish businessman. Talansky, who was questioned during a recent visit to Israel, is apparently the central witness in the investigation thus far, although an Olmert staffer, Shula Zaken, has also been repeatedly questioned by police in connection with the latest corruption investigation.

PM Olmert: 'If Charges Are Pressed, I Will Resign'
In response to the lifting of the gag order, Prime Minister Olmert told a press conference Thursday night, "If the Attorney General decides to file charges against me, I will resign."

Olmert gave his own version of events connected with the corruption investigation, saying that he met Talansky in 1993, when Olmert was running for mayor of Jerusalem. "Talansky helped me raise campaign funds for those and other elections in which I took part," the Prime Minister said, adding that Talansky also covered deficits the Olmert campaigns had created.

"There was nothing wrong with raising funds," Olmert said. "I never received any bribes. I never took a cent into my own pocket."

Details of the Investigation Thus Far Revealed
Details of the latest corruption investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as presented to the media by police officials and the Attorney General's Office, with court sanction, are as follows:

The investigation, which officially began ten days ago, centers on suspicions that Prime Minister Olmert accepted monies illegally while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and as Minister of Industry and Trade. The sources of the suspect funds, which are believed to have been significant, were one or more foreigners. The monies were
Prime Minister Olmert was questioned for about an hour by police investigators about the corruption allegations.
allegedly paid to Olmert over a lengthy period of time, both directly and indirectly.

One of the central witnesses in the building case is a foreign resident, identified in the foreign media and by Olmert himself as Talansky, who was questioned by police during his visit to Israel over the Passover holiday. Talansky's name came up in connection with the suspected bribes during a police investigation into a separate matter.

On May 2, following testimony by Talansky and other witnesses, Prime Minister Olmert was questioned for about an hour by police investigators about the corruption allegations. He cooperated with the detectives and denied receiving any monies illegally. The police agreed to limit their initial questioning of Olmert to an hour due to his duties as Prime Minister, but it was made clear that further testimony will be collected from him at a later date.

Police said that, aside from the Prime Minister and Talansky, they have questioned others involved in the case. Among them, the Prime Minister's former Office Director Shula Zaken and Attorney Uri Messer. The investigation is still underway, police officials emphasized, and will continue as long as necessary.

Cabinet ministers and coalition partners are hurrying to get their ducks in line as the storm clouds gather in the latest investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Even US President George W. Bush has recognized the winds of change.

Bush’s long-heralded trip to Israel in which he hoped to crown 60th Independence Day celebrations with significant progress toward a final status agreement between the Jewish State and the Palestinian Authority was hastily reworked in light of the allegations.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is convinced Olmert will have no choice but to leave office, according to an aide quoted by the Reuters news agency.  The source said Barak has knowledge of details of the current criminal investigation and that the case is serious enough that the Prime Minister will be forced to quit.

The chairman of the Labor Party, who is not a member of the Knesset at this time, is reportedly weighing his options carefully.

Publicly, the Defense Minister is carrying out business as usual and declaring that the Prime Minister is innocent until proven guilty. But privately Barak has been quietly discussing the issue of when to topple the government.

“Barak has little doubt that Olmert is on his way out, but the question is: Elections now, or later?” the source told Reuters.

If Labor, the second largest party in the coalition, pulls out of the government and forces new elections, Likud Party chairman Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to lead his party to a victory. Such a scenario would likely mean a nationalist/religious coalition, leaving Labor out of the government.

If Labor remains, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as Acting Prime Minister, is the most likely candidate to take over the reins should Olmert be forced out. Labor might negotiate a deal in which it would rotate leadership of the coalition with Kadima – but Barak would be unable to serve as Prime Minister as long as he is not an MK.

In either scenario, Barak comes up empty on the personal front: as matters stand, he would be unable to return to his former position as Prime Minister.

With army approval and protection, thousands made their way to the Disengagement-destroyed Shomron town of Homesh on Independence Day - and then another 150 continued further north, in the middle of the night, to establish a presence at another Disengagement-town, Sa-Nur.

[video:123196]

The midnight pioneers say their goal is to rebuild Sa-Nur.  Efforts to rebuild Homesh have been underway for over a year.

Among the 150 people who made their way to Sa-Nur around 4:30 AM were former residents of the town, who were expelled in the summer of 2005 under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Disengagement/withdrawal plan.  The Disengagement focused mainly on withdrawing from Gush Katif and expelling its 9,000 Jews, but four small towns in the northern Shomron were added as well, as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority.  The four included the relatively-isolated Ganim and Kadim near Jenin, and Sa-Nur and Homesh, both north of Shavei Shomron.

Singing About the Joyous Return to Zion
The 150 when it was still dark, affixed a mezuzah to a wall that remained standing and in which some of them planned to sleep, and danced and sang, "G-d's redeemed people will return to Zion with joy." 

As of late Friday morning, they were still in Sa-Nur, preparing to remain, at least, for the Sabbath.  Army forces, caught unawares, have arrived; they have not received an order to try to evict the settlers, and are instead standing watch over them as police attempt to convince them to leave on their own.

An Arutz-7 video of the ascent, filmed by Kobi Sela, can be seen here.

This is the Answer to Olmert's Corruption
Yossi Dagan, a spokesman for the efforts to rebuild Sa-Nur and Homesh, told Arutz-7 today, "Just as we have succeeded in establishing a permanent presence in Homesh, we plan to do the same in Sa-Nur... With the corruption and loss of values represented by Olmert and his government, this is the correct answer - a pioneering spirit of settlement and return to the Land."

The IDF released a statement reiterating the ban on entering the area - which, unlike Gush Katif, was never handed over to Palestinian Authority control and effectively remains no-man's land.

However, the Homesh First campaign responded, "We are not the criminals; if there are criminals, they are those who uprooted the residents of Sa-Nur from their homes, as well as Ehud Olmert, the architect of the expulsion and corruption."

Dagan said, "If the soldiers evict us, fine - but we will return, just like we returned to Homesh."

Background and History
Chomesh and Sa-Nur, some 20 miles east of Netanya, were situated within a narrow Israeli-controlled strip only two miles wide, flanked on both sides by territory under total Arab control.  Though the two towns and their residents had suffered several terrorist-attack murders, Land of Israel supporters were very active in strengthening them in the hope of warding off the withdrawal plans:  Of the 17 families living in Sa-Nur several months before the end, nine of them were young religious families who arrived in the preceding months, opening a new kindergarten and nursery in their wake.  In Chomesh, too, a new kindergarten was opened in its last year; of its 43 families, 11 were new religious families that arrived during the previous two years.

Despite the efforts, the government succeeded in destroying the towns, leaving barely a single stone to mark where the houses and synagogues had stood (though the synagogue in Sa-Nur was not razed, but rather buried). 

Efforts to rebuild Homesh began at the end of 2006, when a group snuck into the former town and lit Chanukah candles there.  A few months later, before Passover and on Independence Day, larger groups made their way up, claiming they were on their way to resettle the town.  The army originally said it would block the Independence Day march, but then backed down and provided tacit protection.  However, the day ended in a fiasco when the army removed all electricity, water supplies and transportation, thus leaving thousands of people, including women and children, stranded - hungry, tired, and thirsty - atop the mountain, forced to walk several kilometers down the mountains in the dark.

As if to make up for what happened, the army announced this year that it would cooperate with the organizers of the ascent - though the organizers themselves preferred to go it alone. While some chose to march up the hills in a 3-4 hour trek, thousands of people made their way by bus to nearby Shavei Shomron, where shuttle buses were on hand to take them up to Homesh, and then back down. The ruins of Homesh were thus filled with people of all ages, engaged in traditional Independence Day barbecues, studying Torah, participating in a music concert, playing on giant inflatables, and walking around the ruins.

For the above 150, however, this was not enough - and they now await either the onset of a joyous Sabbath in the hills of the northern Shomron, or an army eviction with the prospect of additional ascents in the future.

Thousands of Israelis celebrated Independence Day by flocking to hilltop communities in Judea and Samaria for a day of song and solidarity with the next generation's pioneers.

At least 2,000 people held picnics, barbecues and hikes at the budding community of Migron, in the Binyamin Regional Council area, one of those threatened with destruction to make way for a Palestinian Authority state within Israel's current borders.

Residents of Judea and Samaria as well as activists from around the country gathered at the mountaintop site to express their support for Israeli sovereignty in the region.

Participants streamed to the hilltop under the banner of, “We stand up for what’s ours – Migron!”  According to Ynet, the IDF and police officially permitted the event.

The celebration was part of a broader initiative that is being run by the Loyalists for the Land of Israel, Youth for the Land of Israel, Women in Green and Adamah Admati.(This Land is My Land)

Mevaseret Adumim (E-1)
By midday, hundreds of Israelis had also reached the Mevaseret Adumim (E-1) area, among them Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel. The mayor moved his office on Thursday to Mevaseret Adumim, located between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, as a show of support for development in the area.

Kashriel and other officials have warned that the continuation of the freeze on construction in Mevaseret Adumim could cause permanent harm to Maaleh Adumim.

Those interested in visiting the site can call 050-766-8857 for more information.

Givat HaEitam
The main Land of Israel event took place in Givat HaEitam near the Judean city of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc, where activists planned to start construction on a new synagogue. Many said they planned to stay the night.

Picnics, music and children’s activities kept things lively on the stony hillsides as the sound of music, chatter and laughter and the scent of roasting meat wafted through the air.

Homesh
Activists were also reportedly allowed by the IDF to visit the ruins of the former northern Samarian town of Homesh which was destroyed as part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s 2005 Disengagement from Gaza. 

The visit, however, was initially only permitted within the confines of an organized group; one activist who arrived by foot at an army checkpoint was turned away. He allegedly attacked a soldier, was arrested and taken into custody by police.

By evening, more than 10,000 people had reached Homesh, with participants calling for its revival as well as the rebuilding of its former neighboring community, Sa-Nur as well.

Israel's Independence Day begins Wednesday night and continues on Thursday.  With the holiness of the holiday under attack from right and left - the hareidi-religious public, the secular public, and even parts of the Disengagement-stricken religious-Zionist public - celebrants of the day wish to emphasize its basic principles.

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed - the rabbi of the Shomron town of Har Brachah, the Dean of the hesder yeshiva there and a prolific author on matters of Jewish Law who is quickly gaining a reputation as a leading authority in the religious-Zionist public - has published a short work explaining the historic and religious significance of the day.

The work, published as a supplement to the B'Sheva weekly, covers the following points:
• The establishment of the State of Israel facilitates, for both individuals and the nation as a whole, the fulfillment of the Torah commandment to settle the Land of Israel.
• The establishment of the State removed the shame of Exile and the accompanying desecration of G-d's Name, as in Ezekiel 36, verses 4, 20, and others.
• The establishment of the State, in the wake of centuries of pogroms that culminated with the Holocaust, saved many Jewish lives, and helped buttress the Jewish People's spiritual condition.
• It is a positive commandment to thank G-d for His miracles and favors, and to enact holidays to this end.

Excerpts from the work:

The Commandment to Settle the Land
On the 5th day of Iyar in 5708 [May 14,1948], when the establishment of the State of Israel was declared, the Nation of Israel merited to fulfill the Torah's command to settle the Land of Israel.  True, individual Jews who lived in the Land prior to this also fulfilled a commandment, but the commandment mainly applies to the entire nation, which is bidden to bring the Land under Jewish sovereignty.  [See Numbers 33,53 and Deut. 11,31, and Nachmanides' commentary]

Jewish Law, in fact, rules that the obligation to mourn destroyed cities in the Land of Israel is dependent on Jewish sovereignty: Ruins of cities that are ruled by non-Jews must be mourned, even if they are populated mostly by Jews; and if they are ruled by Jews, the ruins need not be mourned, even if they are populated mostly by non-Jews. 

The Beginning of Redemption, and Sanctification of G-d's Name
The establishment of the State of Israel removed the disgrace of Exile.  For generation after generation, we wandered in the Diaspora, we suffered terrible humiliation and pogroms, we were a subject of mockery among the nations, and we were subject to mass slaughter.  Observers saw us and said there was no hope for us.  This was a situation of terrible 'desecration of G-d's Name' - for "you [Israel] are called by G-d's Name" [Deut. 28].

G-d's word, as prophesied in so many places in the Bible, was that He would return us to the Land.  But with the passing of so many centuries in which this was not fulfilled, the desecration of G-d's Name increased, and Israel's enemies concluded that Israel would never return.  And then the miracle happened [in 1948], and G-d's word was fulfilled. This was a great sanctification of G-d's Name, and it became even stronger during the Six Day War when we liberated Jerusalem and the holy cities in Judea and Samaria.

This process of the Ingathering of the Exiles and the flowering of the desert is the beginning of the promised Redemption.  As the Talmud states, "There is no clearer sign of the Redemption than this, as is written in the Book of Ezekiel (36,8), 'You mountains of Israel will give forth branches and will bear fruit for My people Israel who are on their way.'"

Yes, there is still much to improve and put right; unfortunately, we have not all merited to do teshuvah [return, repentance] and move to the Land of Israel. But our Sages have taught that there are two types of Redemption: full repentance leading to miraculous Redemption, and the type that takes place through natural processes, accompanied by great difficulties and hardships.  These will cause the Jewish People to return home - and thus we will progress, step by step, until the Complete Redemption.

Jewish Salvation
On Independence Day 1948, the Jewish Nation was saved. It went from a state of subservience to the nations, to one of political freedom.  We also went from a situation of potential death, in that we were unable to defend ourselves from our mortal enemies, to one of life, because since that time we have fought our enemies and, with G-d's help, emerged victorious.

Some 21,000 Jews have been killed in the 60 years since the State was established - but just a few years before that, during the Holocaust, six million holy Jews were murdered over the course of just five years - a rate of nearly 3,500 times more.

This day was a salvation even for Jews living in the Diaspora, in that they now had a country that would always be able to take them in, and even works on their behalf in the international arena. Even the Communist regimes were forced to allow Jews to leave - something that would have been inconceivable before the State of Israel was established.

Spiritual Relief
Spiritually, as well, the Jewish People were saved by the State of Israel. For various reasons, a great spiritual crisis overtook the Jewish People over the past 200 years, and as countries modernized, the Jews became more assimilated.  In the US, for instance, most young Jews marry non-Jews, and those who marry Jews have relatively few children.  The Jewish communities abroad are thus getting smaller and smaller.  Only in the State of Israel is the Jewish population growing, and assimilation is relatively sparse. 

Furthermore, the percentage of Jews in Israel who are connected to Torah and an observant lifestyle is larger than in any other Jewish concentration in the world. This spiritual salvation was the result of the establishment of the State of Israel, which enabled the Ingathering of the Exiles and obviated the lures of world-wide assimilation.

Thus, Israel Independence Day is thus decorated with three layers of holiness: the holiness of the commandment of settling the land; the holiness of the Sanctification of  G-d's Name and the beginning of the Redemption; and the holiness of the physical and spiritual salvation of the Jewish People.

Having just completed an anti-Israel rally near the town of Tzipori, in the Lower Galilee, hundreds of Arabs clashed violently with a group of Jews celebrating Independence Day. In the ensuing riot, five police officers were injured
The Arabs demanded that the Jews lower their flag, which led to a heated exchange.
and six rioters were arrested. Two Arab Members of Knesset who took part in the rally and ensuing violence were lightly injured, as well.

Both police and Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) confirmed that the violence started when members of a youth movement dedicated to reviving Zionism raised the Israeli flag at a Independence Day picnic not far from where the Arabs had gathered for their anti-Israel event. The Arabs demanded that the Jews lower their flag, which led to a heated exchange of words that eventually escalated to rock throwing and necessitated police intervention.

The incident then turned into a large-scale anti-Israel riot, during which police were forced to close the adjacent Highway 79. The two Arab MKs who were among the rioters, Hadash's Barakeh and Wasil Taha (Balad), both claim they were lightly wounded by police.

Police said that the anti-Israel event, held on Thursday in order to parallel Israel's Independence Day celebrations, was rife with extremist sloganeering, expressions of support for Hizbullah terrorism and wild incitement against Jews. They blame the organizers for allowing the rally to take the tone that it did, which, police say, contributed to the subsequent events. Officials added that the organizers of the anti-Israel event would be questioned about their role.

Several weeks ago, Arab activists had asked for a police permit for a march and rally at the abandoned Arab village of Sfouri on Independence Day. The intention was to mark what the Arabs call "the Disaster" (Nakba in Arabic) of Israel's founding on the day Jews are busy celebrating that event according to the Hebrew calendar. Police gave their permission, they said, on condition that there were no manifestations of incitement of extremist anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Police and Border Guards were out in force, however, on the day of the event, due to a large Independence Day picnic held across the road from the scene of the Arab rally. The picnic was organized by members of the Im Tirzu youth movement and the New Guards (haShomer heHadash) organization, apparently in protest over the permit issued for the anti-Israel rally by local Arabs.

On Friday, the Islamic Movement of Israel is slated to hold its own procession and mass rally in Kafr Kanna,
The Islamic Movement of Israel is slated to hold its own procession and mass rally in Kafr Kanna.
northeast of Nazareth in the Galilee, mourning Israel's creation. The Nakba event will be part of the Islamic Movement's annual celebration marking the birth of Islam's founder, Mohammad. After an appeal to the Nazareth District Court, the Islamist group last week received permission to hold the public gathering in the town's soccer stadium.

Reacting to events near Tzipori, MK Effie Eitam (National Union-National Religious Party) said, "Today the Arab leadership in Israel crossed a red line, and a new stage began in the Israeli Arabs' rebellion against the state. The Arab MKs have again proven themselves to be a cause of incitement that leads the Arab community to violent clashes with the Jewish community and the state of Israel."

Eitam called on police and judges to harshly punish anyone found of violating the law during the riots, including those who attacked police officers, those guilty of incitement and disturbing the peace, and rioters who chanted slogans in support of Hizbullah and called to attack Jews.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano opened the prestigious Turin book fair Thursday amid opposition from Muslims and the Italian Left over the choice of Israel as the event's guest of honor.

"No dialogue is possible if there is a refusal to recognize Israel," Napolitano said at Israel's stand at the fair, the European Jewish Press reported. Napolitano added that there can be no "rejection of the reasons for [Israel's] birth or of its right to exist in peace and security."
  
Like the Paris book fair in March, the Turin fair is honoring the modern state of Israel on the 60th anniversary of its creation. Israel's stand was swamped by hundreds of people, many draped in the Israeli flag, with one group holding a banner that read: "I feel Jewish today."

"A special thank-you, with all my heart, goes to President Napolitano for his strong position this year, after the calls over recent months to boycott the Book Fair because of Israel's presence," Israel’s new ambassador to Italy, Gideon Meir, said at the fair's opening. Meir said the calls for a boycott were “an attempt to undermine the state of Israel.” 
 
"No dialogue is possible if there is a refusal to recognize Israel," President Napolitano said at Israel's stand at the fair.

"The President's choice of inaugurating the book fair dedicated to Israel represents a very important moral position to left and right wing extremists that come to Turin to boycott the fair and want to de-legitimize Israel," Meir told Italian daily La Repubblica.

Islamic voices mixed
Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan said Napolitano's decision to open the fair would make it "a political and not a cultural event." Ramadan, who is backing the boycott calls, is the grandson of Hassan El-Banna, the Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ahead of the five-day expo, several Muslim writers, intellectuals and artists as well as the Free Palestine Association staged a two-day protest seminar at the University of Turin titled "Western Democracies and Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine."
 
But Yahya Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic religious community, expressed his “complete solidarity” with the Italian president’s decision to inaugurate the fair.
 
Rabbi cites 'great courage'
Napolitano arrived at the fair by helicopter, along with Israeli novelist A. B. Yehoshua, and cut the inaugural ribbon. David Grossman, Amos Oz, Aaron Appelfeld and Meir Shalev will be among the other featured Israeli authors.
  
In a statement released earlier this week, Napolitano’s office said: "Criticism of the policies adopted by the Israeli government is quite legitimate, especially within Israel. What is inadmissible is any position that tends to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel, which was established by the will of the United Nations in 1948, and its right to existence in peace and security".
 
Turin's Chief Rabbi, Alberto Moshe Somekh, said Wednesday that the city had shown "great courage" in deciding to honor Israel. At a special service in Turin's main synagogue, he said the tribute marked not only the state of Israel's 60 years but also "4,000 years of our presence on the world stage as the 'People of the Book'."
    
Security has been tightened for this year's event in Turin, coming two months after the Paris book fair which was inaugurated by Israeli President Shimon Peres. A bomb threat to the Paris fair forced an hour-long evacuation of the venue.
  
The Turin fair, which is now in its 21st year, will be attended by some 1,400 publishers this year.

EJP also reported that Israel's current relations with the European Union are the warmest they have ever been.

At Mount Herzl, the top brass of Israel's security establishment, together with elected officials, preside over the official state ceremony. Representatives of various IDF units, along with selected veterans, are invited to the ceremony.

IDF soldiers from the Kfir Battalion stand as honor guard during the state ceremony.

The Prime Minister, President and other officials deliver speeches and the Kadish and El Maleh Rachamim prayers are recited.

(L to R) Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish and her husband Yechezkel, Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, two unknowns, Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen and Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski.

A memorial card on Staff Sgt. Michael Levin's grave, alongside a tower of flowers placed by friends and strangers who were inspired by his story.

The family of Erez Turjeman, who fell while serving near Ramallah, hands out cards with photos and the web site commemorating Erez (http://www.erezt.com).

A young woman recites Psalms at Yehuda Greenfeld's grave.

Friends of Achikam Amichai speak with his mother as she sits beside his grave.

A photo of David Rubin and Achikam lies on Amichai's grave.

Amichai, an aspiring geologist and expert on caves, has the most unusual rocks and gems placed on his grave by friends and colleagues.

A photo taken of David Rubin taken a very short while before the terrorist ambush.

The grave of David Papian notes the date of his Aliyah from Armenia in addition to the dates of his birth and death. He died on April 16 in a battle with Gaza terrorists while guarding the border.

A mother spends Memorial Day reciting Psalms and praying by the grave of her son.

The grave of Ro'i Klein, who died in a heroic act that saved his fellow soldiers in the Second Lebanon War.

A child's message on a rock placed on the Mossad agent's grave reads: "Dad, I would be very happy if you would be alive."

The grave of Shayetet 13 fighter Raanan Komemi, who died in a battle with a Hamas commander in Shechem that his parents and fellow soldiers blame on the Supreme Court's intervention preventing certain IDF tactics of preventing ambushes.

A guide speak to a March of the Living group that just arrived from Auschwitz about young men who have chosen to immigrate to Israel and join the IDF.

Fellow soldiers, friends and family gather around the grave of St.-Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, who died fighting terrorists in Gaza's Jabalya region two months ago.

See sidebar or click here for complete photo series, including the grave of a recently fallen Mossad agent.

(Photos: Ezra HaLevi)