Israeli, Australian, NZ leaders mark landmark WWI battle
BEERSHEBA, Israel: Israeli, Australian and New Zealand leaders gathered in southern Israel yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of a key cavalry charge that helped clear the way to Jerusalem during World War I.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was joined by his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull and New Zealand Governor- General Patsy Reddy in Beersheba, where the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) defeated Ottoman troops to gain control of a strategic crossroads.
Netanyahu hailed the battle as eventually helping lead to the creation of the state of Israel.
“Nearly 4,000 years ago Abraham came to Beersheba, the city of seven wells,” Netanyahu said at the ceremony, held in the city’s Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.
“Exactly 100 years ago brave ANZAC soldiers liberated Beersheba for the sons and daughters of Abraham and opened the gateway for the Jewish people to re- enter the stage of history,” Netanyahu said.
“Israel salutes the sacrifice of these brave soldiers. We will never forget them. We will forever honour and treasure their memory.”
To Australians, “the battle has become part of our history, part of our psyche,” Turnbull said.
The audacious assault on entrenched Ottoman forces enabled the British advance into Palestine and “secured the victory that did not create the state of Israel, but enabled its creation,” Turnbull said.
“Had the Ottoman rule in Palestine and Syria not been overthrown by the Australians and the New Zealanders, the Balfour Declaration would have been empty words,” the Australian premier said.
Britain’s Balfour Declaration on Nov 2, 1917 said it viewed “with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.
New Zealand’s Reddy said the battle ‘changed political conditions in this region in the most profound way’.
The historic battle will also be marked with a 100-horse parade in Beersheba by volunteer Australian riders in period uniform and a reenactment of the charge. — AFP