Seven decades of Israel: A controversial jubilee

As the country turns 70, Israelis are coming together to celebrate. The festivities, like here at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, started Wednesday evening and peaked in a big beach party. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, announced the country's independence in Tel Aviv.

In keeping with the Hebrew calendar, Israel's Independence Day festivities began this year on April 18. The anniversary celebrations have, however, been overshadowed by tensions on Israel’s northern border and renewed violence and protests in Gaza.

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, is always present. This statue shows him doing a handstand — in the same spot and pose he was captured in by photographer Paul Goldman in 1957.

Tel Aviv was the first modern Hebrew city. Its skyline contrasts with the old houses of Neve Tzedek. In 1887, long before Israel’s declaration of independence, the quarter was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside Old Jaffa.

Today, 70 years after Israel’s founding, Neve Tzedek is one of the hippest places in town — a trendy neighborhood with an old Jewish culture. While young Israelis and tourists are flocking to the bars, cafés and shops, the historic side of Israel is ever present.

Zion Howav is two years older than the state of Israel. He has lived in Neve Tzedek since he was young. "Fifty to 60 years ago you wouldn’t have seen people on the streets on Friday afternoons, they would all go to the synagogue," the 72-year-old says.

As Israel marks its founding, disagreement over the West Bank settlements remain. Maaleh Adumim, surrounded by the Judean Desert, is one of them. For the Israeli political right, they are among the country's major achievements. For the left, they are a blight on Israel's international reputation.

Neri Ureli, 60, lives in Maaleh Adumim. "Israel is a country that has done so much in its 70 years. I’m proud because [it] came from nothing. To build in the desert, this is also something ideological, not in a political sense, but to take land that has nothing on it and create something from nothing."

Theodor Herzl, often referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State," adorns this wall in Maaleh Adumim. The city, home to 40,000 people, is one of the closest Israeli settlements to Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. Last year, the government announced plans to expand the city.

Since the Israeli government intensified its settlement policy, Maaleh Adumim has become a flash point of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. There are plans to make it one of the first settlements officially annexed by Israel, thus putting the whole Middle East peace process at risk.