Jerusalem — The schism between religious and secular Israelis has never been wider, the rate of unemployment is soaring and the peace process is nearly on life support.

So what prompted Ziva Moshe, a 44-year-old mother of four, to celebrate Israel’s 50th anniversary with unabashed pride and a traditional barbecue?

“It’s a holiday, a beautiful sunny day and I’m happy,” said Moshe, who like hundreds of thousands of other Israelis congregated in the nation’s parks on Israeli Independence Day.

We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called Medinat Yisrael. With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hand to this Declaration, at this session of the Provisional State Council, on the soil of the homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the fourteenth of May, 1948.”
— David Ben-Gurion, reading Proclamation of Independence, May 14, 1948
“The people are profoundly happy. And I am filled with foreboding. I feel like the bereaved among the rejoicing.”