Forty-nine bereaved families have announced that they are not participating in official Memorial Day ceremonies in honor of those killed in acts of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic terrorism. The families, who lost loved ones in terrorist attacks, explained that they are boycotting the events in protest of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s willingness to release terrorists from jail as part of a potential exchange with Hizbullah and Hamas.

Ben-Tzion Ben-Shoham, whose sister Limor was murdered in a terrorist bombing almost five years ago, warned that the terrorists would continue their attacks on Israelis once released. He accused the public of ignoring the danger inherent in a prisoner exchange in the urgent desire to bring home kidnapped soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

“I do not want to see any more new bereaved families. There are too many already,” said Ben-Shoham.

Other bereaved families disagreed with the boycott and said they would attend the memorial ceremonies and voice their objections there. A father who lost his son, daughter and son-in-law in a terrorist attack said that for him, the Memorial Day ceremonies are about remembering and honoring his children. Families can pressure the government in other ways, he added.

The Almagor terror victims’ association recently published figures showing that no fewer than 177 innocent citizens, mostly Israeli Jews, were murdered in recent years by terrorists released from Israeli jails. Scores of other Israelis were seriously wounded in 30 separate attacks by recidivist terrorists as well.

Almagor Chairman Meir Indor said that he would not boycott official Memorial Day ceremonies, but he noted that not all organization members feel the same way.

According to statistics from the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi), Arab terrorists have killed 864 Israelis and wounded more than 14,000 others since the Palestinian Authority launched the Oslo War, also known as the “second Intifada,” in October 2000. The number of terrorism fatalities represents half of the 1,635 citizens who have died in terrorist attacks since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Arab terrorists have killed 864 Israelis and wounded more than 14,000 others since they launched the Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada, in October 2000. The number of terrorism fatalities represents half of the 1,635 citizens who died in terrorist attacks since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The statistics were reported Thursday by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) in a press release ahead of Memorial Day, which falls on Monday.

The Almagor terror victims’ organization also recently released figures showing that no fewer than 177 innocent citizens, mostly Israeli Jews, were murdered in recent years in attacks perpetrated by terrorists freed from Israeli jails. In 30 separate attacks by rescidivist terrorists, scores of Israelis were also seriously wounded.

The Palestinian Authority decision to launch the Oslo War in 2000 followed PA leader Yasser Arafat’s refusal of an offer from then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak for a new Arab state. Barak was ready to surrender more than 90 percent of lands in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, including much of Jerusalem in exchange for commitments from Arafat. In December 2000, Imad Falouji, the PA Communications Minister at the time, said that the sustained terrorist campiagn “was already planned ever since [Yasser Arafat’s] return from the last talks at Camp David, at which he stood up to President Clinton and firmly rejected the American terms.”

A visit by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, just a few days after the first attack by PA militiamen on their IDF counterparts in a joint patrol, was later used by Arafat as propaganda for inciting further attacks. The PA later dubbed their terror war the “Al-Aksa Intifada,” in a reference to one of the mosques on the Temple Mount.

The Oslo Peace Accords, which gave the Oslo War its name, were negotiated in Oslo, Norway, and signed in September 1993. The set of agreements set out to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict by providing the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) with guns and land in exchange for assurances of peace. At the signing ceremony in Washington, US President Bill Clinton called the Oslo Accords a “brave gamble.” Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted in an October 1994 speech in Casablanca that the Oslo initiative was a “calculated risk for peace.”

Since last Independence Day, 66 Israeli civilians have died in terrorist attacks, including those who perished during the Second Lebanon War waged by Hizbullah.

Oslo War Attacks Continue

On Thursday, two IDF soldiers were lightly injured when Arab gunmen shot at a military jeep on Highway 443, near the Ofer military base west of Ramallah. The soldiers are being treated for shrapnel injuries at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. The attackers managed to evade capture. PA sources attributed the shooting to the Fatah’s Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group. Fatah is headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Fatah-aligned terrorists have also claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on Israeli motorists on Highway 55 near Kalkilya, between Kfar Saba and the Karnei Shomron-Kedumim communities. The terrorists claimed that several Israelis were wounded, but neither the local Jewish towns nor the IDF reported any injuries.

Daily Israeli counter-terrorist operations continue to result in the capture of dozens of wanted terrorists. 24 wanted men were captured by IDF forces throughout Judea and Samaria overnight Wednesday, including members of Fatah and the Islamist Hamas organizations, which currently jointly control the PA government. Several Islamic Jihad terrorists were also captured in the overnight series of raids.

Forty-nine families of terror victims Wednesday announced they would boycott the Remembrance Day commemoration ceremonies for those who died in terror attacks, in protest of the expected release of terrorists in exchange for abducted soldier Gilad Shalit.

“The terrorists responsible for my sister’s murder will strike again. If not all, then some,” said Ben Zion Ben-Shoham, spearhead of the decision to boycott the commemoration ceremonies. His sister, Limor, was murdered in the suicide bombing in Jerusalem’s Cafe Moment five years ago.

The bereaved families, who have met several ministers including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but so far in vain.

“Only a week ago it was reported that 35 people were murdered by terrorists who had been released in the Tannenbaum deal, so this issue must be considered rationally, not emotionally,” he said.

“People close their eyes and say: Gilad must be brought back home. I’m with them but not this way. He may be released, but hundreds of others will die. Anyway, as long as we don’t know where he is or receive a sign of life from him, we must not talk to them or enable family visits to the Palestinian murderers imprisoned in Israel,” he said.

The unprecedented move is being contested by other bereaved families. The leader of the Almagor Terror Victims Association (“Almagor”), Meir Eindor, said that some families believe they must go to the cemeteries and make their voice heard.

Zion Savari, who lost his daughter, son and son-in-law in a terror attack on Road 443 six years ago, objects to the boycott.

“These are ceremonies to commemorate our children. There is no place to boycott them. We have disagreements with the government and can protest, but regardless of these commemoration ceremonies,” he said.

“At this stage, Olmert is taking quite a firm stand about the prisoners. Had it been Sharon, there would have been cause to demonstrate. He released prisoners in the past. But Olmert hasn’t freed a single terrorist so far. What we must do is end their comfortable conditions in jail, stop their family visits until Shalit’s family is permitted to visit him,” he said.

Almagor maintains that 80 percent of the released Palestinian terrorists resumed terror activity.

Security sources, however, say that only about 25 percent of the released Palestinians went back to terror activity.

Eindor says he has a list of terrorists who have been released from Israeli prisons and have resumed terror activity. The prominent attacks carried out by these people include the suicide bombing on Passover eve in Park Hotel in Netanya, the attack on Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, the settlements of Adora and Carmei Tzur in the southern West Bank, suicide attacks in Jerusalem, the Afula bus terminal and other population centers.

Almagor’s Web site carries 177 portraits of people who were murdered by terrorists released from prison.