Israel's birthday celebrated by Utah County students

But the one-fifth of Israel citizens population that is not Jewish and is mostly Arab may not feel so at home in their own country during the festivities. They remember the 1948 events much differently. The birth of Israel meant the death of their Palestine and about 700,000 Arabs were displaced in its wake. Arabs call the same event that Jews will be celebrating "the catastrophe."

"By definition Israel is the state of the Jewish people," Jacon Dayan, Israel's consulate general, told the Deseret News in a phone interview. "But (the Arabs) have rights and participate in all areas. We expect them to be part of the celebration."

He touted the newly erected 25-foot-high fence, which has greatly reduced threats, as a comfort to Israel. Before the fence a suicide bombers simply walked through neighboring Bethlehem, up a weed-covered hill known locally as the green zone and into Jerusalem to explode in busy street markets, killing dozens at a time.

"It has greatly reduced those kinds of attacks here, he said. "And we would really like to have peace with our neighbors but we are against some extreme organizations in the region."

The American Israeli Alliance has hosted four other events in Utah and more are planned nationwide. The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has posed several dozen U.S. celebratory events in the next two months.

Perhaps nothing here in the U.S. will rival what Dayan says Israel has planned, though, for commemorating their survival and eventual flourishing in a region who's been targeted by every single bordering nation throughout their history. After mentioning a recent visit Vice President Cheney paid to Israel in relation to the anniversary, he said Israel is looking forward to a three-day visit from President Bush next month.

"We haven't started to celebrate it quite yet even though American is doing a lot of that right now," he said. "But it's a big deal. It's going to be big."

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E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com