Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his fellow ministers this morning signed the original 1949 document in which Fifth of [the Hebrew month of] Iyar, Independence Day, was declared to be an official holiday in Israel.
 
The initiative for ministers of the current Government to sign the document came from Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, who came across the original document in the State Archives.  He thought the symbolism of the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence was appropriate for the renewed ratification of Independence Day, in which the residents of the state salute those who fought for its establishment.
 
Prime Minister Olmert signed the document and added, in his own handwriting: As the State of Israel’s 60th Independence Day approaches, we salute the soldiers, builders and leaders who laid the foundations, built the force and fashioned Israeli society.”