JERUSALEM (JTA) — Bereaved families and their supporters in Israel have signed a petition calling for a break between Memorial Day and Independence Day.
The petition, which has garnered 5,000 signatures as of Monday — many from bereaved families — requests at least a 24-hour break between the two observances.
It is too difficult both emotionally and logistically to have Independence Day immediately follow Memorial Day, the petition says. Families experience significant emotional pain on Memorial Day, it says, and then must find their way home from cemeteries and ceremonies during which they encounter closed roads and preparations beginning for Independence Day.
The change would require Knesset legislation.
Memorial Day this year is on Monday, followed on Tuesday by Independence Day.
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