Underneath the headline were threestories – one dealing with President Truman\’s announcement, one withthe opening hours of Israel\’s War of Independence, and the third withJewish reaction in Los Angeles (\”with a spirit of solemnity,\” wrotethe Times reporter) to the news from the Middle East.
As the American Jewish community celebrates the50th anniversary of Israel\’s independence, those of us who went overto fight as volunteers in the fledgling country\’s armed forces canlook back with special pride and remembrance.
You get thesense that Israel at 50 is like a bar mitzvah boy who doesn\’t want aparty — not until he gets taller and his acne clears up. Not untilhe feels normal.
This was thestory that had everything: a suffering, underdog people, outnumberedand surrounded by enemies, old and new, battling insuperable odds totriumph in a desert they had made bloom. It was \”Rocky\” before\”Rocky,\” and Hollywood knew a good story when they saw it.
Even the Jewish institutional mainstream beganopenly challenging Israel\’s policies, with delegations expressingconcern over everything from peace talks to religiouspluralism.
In 1854, 30 self-described \”Israelites of this city\” founded the Hebrew Benevolent Society to serve their religious,social and philanthropic needs. Not only was the society the city\’sfirst Jewish organization, but it was also the first charitable groupof any kind in Los Angeles.
Over the past two years, Jerusalem alone has beenshaken by two bus bombings and by explosions in the Mahane Yehudamarket and the Ben-Yehuda shopping precinct.
Today it is rapidlybecoming clear that Israel has atomized into a number of \”tribes\” –Sephardim, Russians, Ethiopians, ultra-Orthodox, national Orthodoxand secular Ashkenazim.
Binyamin Netanyahu has made peace, for the time being, with his own disaffected coalition by offering the Palestinians a further West Bank withdrawal that is vague, qualified and conditional. But in the atmosphere of distrust generated by the Israeli prime minister, few are convinced that he has advanced the prospects of a wider peace.
Fifty years ago this week, on Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly ofthe United Nations voted to partition British-held Palestine into aJewish state, an Arab state, and a corpus separatum, comprisingJerusalem and Bethlehem, to remain under the control of the UnitedNations.
