ISRAEL: Israelis celebrate independence day

Record ID: 401340

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israelis celebrate independence day
  • Date: 8th May 2008
  • Summary: (W3) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (MAY 8, 2008) (REUTERS) BEACH FILLED WITH SPECTATORS
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA4D93S05M9ZL27U9AVFIBZDHDQ
  • Story Text: Israelis celebrate 60th anniversary with spectacular aerial and nautical military displays on a beach in Tel Aviv and with barbecues in the park.
    Israel celebrated its 60th birthday with a spectacular military display and barbecues across the country on Thursday (May 8).
    For the first time, as part of Independence Day celebrations, fighter jets swooped in formation and paratroopers dropped into the sea in the coast of the sun-kissed city of Tel Aviv. Around 100 paratroopers from foreign militaries were taking part in aerial shows along the shore.
    Several people were wounded lightly when a paratrooper crashed into the audience during a skydiving display in Tel Aviv. The paratrooper drifted from its planned trail by a strong wind and hit a group of people who were standing on the beach to watch the spectacle.
    In Jerusalem, Blue-on-white Star of David flags fluttered from windows and poles while residents celebrated with picnics and barbecues in the park.
    Security was tight for fear of militant attacks and armed police stood by as revellers hit the beach in Tel Aviv, some draped in blue and white Israeli flags.
    Measures to stop Palestinians entering Israel from Gaza and the West Bank were tightened.
    Founded partly on the basis of Jewish claims to biblical land and partly as a haven for survivors of European persecution that culminated in the Nazi Holocaust, Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, hours before a U.N. mandate in then British-ruled Palestine expired.
    Since then, war or the threat of it has clouded every day for Israelis.
    While Israelis enjoyed the festivities, Palestinians marked 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.
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