{"id":7587,"date":"2018-12-26T12:50:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/2018\/12\/26\/pm-ariel-sharons-address-at-the-jerusalem-day-ceremony-at-ammunition-hill"},"modified":"2019-01-01T10:13:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T08:13:22","slug":"pm-ariel-sharons-address-at-the-jerusalem-day-ceremony-at-ammunition-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/2018\/12\/26\/pm-ariel-sharons-address-at-the-jerusalem-day-ceremony-at-ammunition-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Ariel Sharon’s Address at the Jerusalem Day Ceremony at Ammunition Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> presents the text of then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s speech at the Jerusalem Day Ceremony at Ammunition Hill on 6 June 2005, in which he pays tribute to the heroic soldiers who died in the bloody battle on the site during the Six Day War and expresses the deep significance of the reunification of Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Ariel Sharon’s Address at the Jerusalem Day Ceremony at Ammunition Hill<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Distinguished President of the State of\u00a0Israel<\/span>,\u00a0Bereaved Families,\u00a0Government Ministers (who participated in the special cabinet meeting we held here today, and made decisions regarding the development of\u00a0Jerusalem<\/span>\u00a0as the eternal capital of Israel forever and ever),\u00a0President of the Supreme Court,\u00a0Speaker of the\u00a0Knesset<\/span>,\u00a0Commanders in the IDF, Police and Security Forces,\u00a0Mayor of Jerusalem,\u00a0Commanders, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n

On that terrible night, at the dawn of the 27th day of\u00a0Iyar<\/span>, 5727, the soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade, commanded by\u00a0Motta Gur, were ready to storm this fortified position,\u00a0Ammunition Hill.\u00a0 Behind them was the Israeli part of\u00a0Jerusalem, wounded by bombardments which had not ceased since that morning.\u00a0 In front of them, beyond this hill, was the top of\u00a0Mount Scopus, the Israeli enclave, which would be in serious danger if it were not reached by dawn. In the south of the city, the soldiers of the Jerusalem Brigade, commanded by Eliezer Amitai, had already conquered Armon Hanatziv, and the \u201cNaknik\u201d and \u201cPa\u2019amon\u201d posts. From the north, the 10th Armored Brigade, commanded by Uri Ben-Ari, made its way through the \u201cRadar\u201d and \u201cSheik Abed El Aziz\u201d posts, towards Nebi Samuel.<\/p>\n

It is symbolic that the fighters of three reserve troops brigades \u2013 the most explicit manifestation of \u201cArmy of the People\u201d, were the redeemers of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

On that night, Head of Command\u00a0Uzi Narkis\u00a0suddenly announced that the General Staff suggested that the attack be postponed until morning so that it could receive aerial support. Motta assembled the commanders for consultation and they unanimously decided:\u00a0 We cannot wait.\u00a0 We must attack tonight.<\/p>\n

This is how they were, the paratroopers. That is how they were trained: to be dedicated to the mission, to attack, to risk their lives for their people.\u00a0 They could not wait until the break of day.\u00a0 A fire burned in their hearts. The fire of Jerusalem. In the storm of battle that raged here, many of them paid with their lives. There is no stone on this hill which was not soaked with the blood of fighters. We will forever cherish those who, for our sake, bridged the two sections of our eternal capital \u2013 a bridge between the dream of generations and the reality of our time.\u00a0 The vision of the prophets was realized. Prayer turned into salvation.<\/p>\n

For 19 years Jerusalem was divided, besieged, reclusive, and at the end of every path, and for double that time \u2013 38 years \u2013 it has been united and open.<\/p>\n

The majority of the Israeli population has not known a different reality. The younger generation could not visualize the line crossing the city, strewn with mines and barbed wire. They could not imagine the enemy soldiers on the walls of the\u00a0Old City, and no access to the\u00a0Temple<\/span>\u00a0Mount, the\u00a0Western Wall, and the\u00a0Mount of Olives. They could not imagine that the city\u2019s suburbs, from Ramot and Neveh Yaacov in the north, to Gilo and Har Homa in the south, were barren hills, with cannons aimed at the heart of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

For us, there is only one Jerusalem, and no other. It will be ours forever, and will never again be in the hands of foreigners. We will honor and cherish all lovers of Jerusalem, of all faiths and religions. We will carefully guard all its sites of prayer, churches and mosques, and freedom of worship will be ensured, which was not the case when others ruled it. We will fearlessly face the entire world and will ensure the future of united Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is the anchor, root of life, and faith of the Jewish people and we will never again part with it.<\/p>\n

Whoever wishes to know this should open the\u00a0Bible<\/span>, read and understand.<\/p>\n

Historic Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish people for over 3000 years, will always be one, united, the capital of the State of Israel forever and ever.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post presents the text of then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s speech at the Jerusalem Day Ceremony at Ammunition Hill on 6 June 2005, in which he pays tribute to the heroic soldiers who died in the bloody battle on the site during the Six Day War and expresses the deep significance of the reunification […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":7779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1655,2550,1643,2554],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=7587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/revisions\/"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7778,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/revisions\/7778\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7779\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=7587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=7587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=7587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}