Yom Ha'Zikaron, the day that honors the soldiers who have fallen in Israel's defense since before statehood, occurs the day before Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) according to the Jewish calendar. Israel's citizens remember their fallen war heroes and victims of terrorism who fell in the long struggle for the Jewish people's return to its land. The count (which in 2006 exceeded 21,000) begins in 1860, the year the first Jerusalem neighborhood was built outside the old city walls.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..