Israel celebrated its 60th birthday with barbecues and military display yesterday but the party was marred by an investigation that could unseat the prime minister and derail efforts toward a peace it has never known.

Blue-on-white Star of David flags fluttered from cars, rooftops and balconies, fighter planes traced "60" in smoke trails across the sky, paratroopers dropped into the sea and a televized youth Bible quiz highlighted the place Jewish faith holds in a state mainly founded by secular Zionists.

War or the threat of it has clouded every day for Israelis since David Ben-Gurion declared their state in 1948 that was destined to be a haven for survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.

Yesterday, families gathered to focus on the positive and on national pride. "It's an emotional day," said Tzviya Gilboa, 57, among vast crowds packing sunny beaches at Tel Aviv. "Anything that is connected to Israel is exciting to me."

Keren Yohanan, 35, attended a barbecue at her cousin's home near Jerusalem. "I'm happy that Israel is 60," she said. "There is excitement but I am simply happy for what we have in Israel."

Fireworks, light shows and military fanfare launched celebrations on Wednesday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is pursuing a deal for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, said the Jewish state craved an end to the decades-old conflict.

"In the state of Israel's 60th year, we can say that God has fulfilled his promise," Olmert said yesterday, hours before police said they expected to ease sweeping restrictions on reporting details of the investigation into his affairs.

Security was intense for fear of attacks and armed police guarded revelers on the beaches. Measures to stop Palestinians entering Israel from Gaza and the West Bank were tightened.

While Israelis partied, Palestinians held a solemn march in Bethlehem to mark the "nakba", or catastrophe, of the Jewish state's creation, when about 700,000 people, half the Arab population of Palestine, fled or were driven from their homes.

Holding banners vowing never to give up their "right to return" to land now part of Israel, protesters rallied around a 10-m-long key, a symbol of the dream to reclaim lost homes.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/09/2008 page12)