Israel Turns 60: Time for Celebration or Reflection?

Prompted by this post by Dan Markel at PrawfsBlawg on the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, I decided to write something in response about the seemingly intractable — to put it feebly — Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Far be it from me to relish the role of a party crasher or to rain on someone's parade, yet I admit to being a little annoyed that Dan did not enable comments to his post. Why? One can only speculate, so I will: Dan did not want to detract from this celebratory occasion, he did not want readers sullying the festivities with comments about the plight of the Palestinians or rational reflections on the founding myths of Zionism that continue to plague the minds of Israel's leaders and entrench the states of denial that haunt Israeli society in general (at least those possessing rights and privileges denied to others in that society). Grading papers and finishing up the semester precludes me at present from posting in depth on this subject so for the moment I'll simply link to some comments and discussion over at Opinio Juris following a blog post by Julian Ku. That should prepare you for what's to come. I won't be disabling comments (well, I couldn't do it in any case as I don't know how!).

Update: For one illustration of the kind of reflection I have in mind (that Owl of Minerva thing, although I don't subscribe to Hegel's conception of philosophy in general), and from an Israeli perspective, please see this piece at Middle East Online by Uri Avnery, former Knesset member and current peace activist.