Reflections on Israel's 60th

Yamit, Israel 1978, Israel's 30th Birthday

"If you liked the book, you'll love the country." Israeli Tourist Bureau

Most people who write about Israel do so passionately, unable to suppress their beliefs, ideologies, politics. That's okay. Israel has sparked supercharged emotions from its inception to the present day. How could it not?

A country formed by displaced Holocaust survivors, European, Levantine, Jewish and Arab nationals, the political agendas of Britain, France, Germany and the United States. Home to the holiest shrines of Western civilization's three major religions.

Israel, let's be frank, is--and always has been--the biggest political football in the world. That's not going to stop any time soon. But it won't stop me from going there, either. And it shouldn't stop you.

I've written about Israel from my own biased perspective as a Jew and an American, but also as one who's lived there, has family there, has had many up close and personal experiences.

On the occasion of Israel's 60th Anniversary as an independent nation, here's my sampling of what Israel means to its own citizens, to the world and to you and me.

Yamit, Israel - A Cautionary Town > Gaza - Yamit: Been There, Done That - Friends who made the desert bloom. And then had to give it all away.

Terrorism - A Daily Fact of Life - 9/11 from Israel's point of view.

Israel - Reality Check - See my mother with Israel's founder and first president.

I'm Home and I'm Fine - I unknowingly travel to the US from Israel on the first day of last year's war.

Another Wedding in Israel - And then, I go back again.

And by the way, I'll be heading there next month for a long overdue visit.