There could be no better depiction of the irony that forms the basis of life in the occupied territories than the rocket-fire that rattled Gaza just as fire crackers announced celebration in Jerusalem.

From the outside, Israel appears stronger than ever with a population more than ten times the original migrants, a western nurtured military that is without question the strongest in the region and a carefully crafted web of media assisted political intrigue that keeps enough commotion in enemy camps to ensure its own survival. Yet the last few years have seen emergence of fault lines that betray an unnerving realisation that while most Israelis are happy about their lives, they do not share the same sentiment about the ‘direction of the country’.

Corruption has seeped deep into the establishment with highest offices, including the premier’s, standing accused. Indeed, even while announcing 60-year-celebrations, Olmert is bracing for the fight of his political life as corruption charges may force him from office before his mandate expires. The region’s military calculus was changed forever as Hezbollah’s brave defiance in face of relentless IDF bombardment and tank attack in the summer of ’06 shamed Tel Aviv and encouraged the likes of Hamas to dig in their heels and announce the long slog. Population numbers, too, tell only one side of the story as hordes ‘move out’ citing government hypocrisy and it is only a matter of time before the Palestinian lot simply outnumbers the Jewish presence in the area.

Significantly, the 60^th anniversary sees a marked change in environment from the early decades when war was forever in the air. It is unfortunate that while George Bush’s White House pushes for the two-state-solution, most western analysts have forgotten to mention the very people who have lost the most from the long, brutal, illegal occupation.

It is not surprising that Tel Aviv’s celebrations will make no mention of the 700,000 Palestinians who were simply evicted from their homes and lands when the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine and make way for the Jewish state. It is really astonishing, though, that even as most Palestinians agree to live as neighbours with people that turned generations into miserable refugees, they hardly find mention even when the entire world’s attention centres on the region.

Nakba they shouted when Ben Gurion materialised Theodore Herzl’s dream, and Nakba they shout today as long decades of war and mediation alike have failed to heal their wounds. Curse the Jews they shall even if some miracle suddenly restores them to their native homes, but the bigger tragedy lies in the unimpressive and uninspiring role of their own supposed representatives and leaders, who still find battles and intrigues of power way more luring than the cries of Thawra that brought them to birth.