Israel's 55th birthday overshadowed by bloodshed, economy

JERUSALEM -- Israel turned 55 Tuesday with more than a few aches and pains.

The country is in the grip of one of its worst recessions and there is no sign of a letup in 31 months of fighting with the Palestinians.

Independence Day celebrations were held amid high security, as police said they had warnings of dozens of planned Palestinian attacks. As a precaution, Israeli closed its borders, banning all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering the country.

The night before, as Israelis started their annual Memorial Day for soldiers and civilians killed during years of conflict with Arabs, Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli motorist on a West Bank road and seriously wounded his 6-year-old daughter.

Carnival atmosphere

At sundown, the day of mourning lurched abruptly into a carnival atmosphere of fireworks, open-air concerts and rowdy street festivities. Israelis explain the juxtaposition by saying that the battles in which the soldiers died helped create and maintain the Jewish state.

The festivities last until Wednesday night.

Cars flew scaled-down Israeli flags, which also are waved by pedestrians, but media reports said flag sales decreased sharply this year, reflecting economic woes.

The daily newspaper Maariv published a list of free activities, among them open days at air force, navy and army bases and guided hikes to historical sites around the country. The paper noted, however, that the military would offer a narrower range of activities than in previous years because of budget cuts.

For many Israelis, Independence Day means heading to the beach or the nearest strip of grass and setting up a barbecue grill. While some go to forests or picnic sites, many can be seen grilling on roadside strips, in city center parks and even traffic islands.

While Israelis celebrate, Palestinians see the founding of the state of Israel as the beginning of what they call al-Naqba, or the catastrophe -- the uprooting of Palestinians during the 1948 war that erupted with Israel's independence on May 15.

Israel marks the day according to the Hebrew calendar. This year it falls on May 6. Palestinians plan protests next Thursday.

Tuesday's edition of the Jerusalem Post included a special Independence Day supplement with some gloomy forecasts by Hebrew University demographer Sergio DellaPergola.

"Israel at the moment is at one of its weakest economic and security points and there is definitely a connection between the security and economic situations," he wrote. "If the economic situation doesn't improve, more Jews will leave Israel than will come."

Figures published on the eve of the holiday by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics showed immigration running at its lowest pace in more than a decade, with 31,000 people arriving in 2002.

The overall Israeli population grew 2 percent over the past year to 6.7 million, of whom about 5.4 million are Jews, the bureau said.