Israelis Ask, What Have We Gained Since the ’67 War? - New York Times

Israelis Ask, What Have We Gained Since the ’67 War? - New York Times: "JERUSALEM, June 8 — In the months before the 1967 Middle East war, Israel was in a spiral of self-doubt, the 19-year experiment of an independent Jewish state looking shaky.

There were existential worries about destruction by Arab armies, fierce denunciations of the political leadership and deep anxiety about a sinking economy.

Forty years later, Israel is rich and its army one of the best in the world, yet the public mood is oddly similar. There is a quiet panic about a potentially nuclear Iran, condemnations of the leadership as weak, indecisive and corrupt, and deep concerns about “two Israels” — religious versus secular, settler versus beachgoer, Jerusalem versus Tel Aviv, Jew versus Arab.

Of course, Israel is no stranger to anxiety or complaint. A small nation built on the ashes of the Holocaust, many of its citizens are ready to fear the worst.

But as Israel marks 40 years after an extraordinary victory, there is far less exultation than questioning about the war’s impact on the country, and grave doubts about the future. There is a debate about what kind of country Israel is, about the impact those 40 years of development, immigration, war, settlement and occupation have had on the dreams of those who chose to make their lives here. And there is a widespread feeling that both left and right are out of answers." Read complete post here.