Halfway through its first century, Israel has yet to resolve a psychological struggle between secularism and reverence. A powerful sense of religion and history permeates its modern cities, where pensive philosophers and microchip millionaires sit on park benches with patriotic Zionists and dedicated disco-goers. The nation’s heterogeneity is most apparent on Friday evenings, when Tel Aviv clubs and Eilat pubs explode with revelry that can almost be heard in the reverent streets of Tzfat or in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter. Israel has been controversial since its inception. As a result of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, Jews of all cultures came together to fashion a new state and to remake themselves, sometimes at the expense of the Palestinian arabs.
It is almost impossible to spend time in Israel and not encounter the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The West Bank is currently under Israeli occupation, but is populated primarily by Palestinians. In response to several Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israel about a decade ago, the State of Israel began to construct an imposing wall between itself and the West Bank (see Another Brick in the Wall). The conflict comes to a head within the city of Jerusalem, where there is a clear divide between the ethnicities.
With the country’s identity and culture in constant flux, all Israelis and Palestinians have their own visions of what Israel and the territories could or should be. Ask them about their bewildering national situation and they will tell you at length how they see their country—there is no lack of impassioned political or apolitical opinions. But a fundamental optimism shines through; talk with them long enough, and they will eventually smile or shrug and say, “Yihiyeh tov” (It will be okay).
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