TEL AVIV -- Today, 60 years ago, I celebrated the birth of my state, lying in a hospital. Wounded in both my legs in a battle with armed Palestinians commanded by former Nazi German and Yugoslav officers, I listened with tears in my eyes to David Ben-Gurion announcing the establishment of the State of Israel.
The next day, at 5 a.m., I woke up to a new reality that would become a trademark of my newly born state: Israel was under attack, invaded by seven Arab armies which were determined to wipe out a Jewish state approved by the UN. Low-flying Egyptian "Spitfire" war planes bombed the Tel Aviv power plant and the nearby military hospital where I was hospitalized. Courageous and unarmed Israeli civilians rushed to the hospital to evacuate the wounded. The "hospital" was a recently evacuated British military base, facing the Mediterranean and built on a site that is now the Tel Aviv Hilton hotel.
Being unable to stand on my feet, I was carried by the civilians to a trench outside the barracks. Two Egyptian planes dived over our heads. To this day, I remember with disgust the laughter of the two Egyptian pilots shooting at unarmed civilians carrying the wounded. Luckily, they missed.
Looking back into those dramatic days, I must conclude that Ben Gurion would not have been able to declare Israel's independence had we not previously won the "battle of the highways." Assisted by volunteers from Egypt, Syria and Iraq, the Palestinians attacked Israeli traffic on the highways, trying to isolate the various cities from each other. They failed. Except for the siege of Jerusalem, all highways in the future Jewish state were secure.
As a counter-measure to the Jerusalem siege, the Hagana, then a paramilitary organization and the largest underground organization in pre-state Israel, was sent to Jaffa. Southeast of Jaffa, there was a small farm with a sole building controlling the Jaffa-Jerusalem highway. My small platoon of 30 Hagana members occupied the building and cut all traffic to and from Jaffa. For weeks we were subjected to nightly attacks by the Palestinians and their German and Yugoslav mercenaries.
Most nights, they were within 10 to 15 metres of our positions. Nevertheless, they were unable to dislodge us and finally they gave up. The siege of Jaffa was over, and the Palestinians took to the sea.
It was during one of these nightly attacks that I was wounded in both legs.
Today, 60 years later, I look with joy and pride at the remarkable achievements of my country in all fields. Rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, that tiny population of 600,000 people -- men, women, old and young -- defeated seven Arab countries totalling 40 million people. Outnumbered and outgunned, Israel was supposed to lose the war. But Israel has since weathered seven wars and two intifadas that claimed the lives of 22,437 with many more wounded.
Israel has grown into a vibrant democracy, built a viable economy and has had unparalleled achievements in the fields of security, high-tech, agriculture and medicine.
Israel's success has relied upon the generous assistance of world Jewry, especially American. In recent years, the assistance of Canadian Jewry has become increasingly important.
Looking ahead, Israel has yet to win the most important battle -- peace with the Palestinians. Despite the peace with Egypt and Jordan and the discreet relations with Morocco and several Persian Gulf states, no peace in the Middle East will be durable without a solution to the Palestinian problem.
Everyone in Israel knows that such a solution requires painful territorial concessions in the West Bank.
Yet, every government in the last 40 years has been reluctant to confront the Jewish West Bank settlers whose number now -- excluding Jerusalem neighbourhoods -- exceeds 230,000.
A more pressing problem for Israel is the fact the current government of Ehud Olmert is weak and corrupt. Its demise will restore Israel's pride in its leaders and renew hope for peace in the region.
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