OPINION:Sixty years ago today, Israel declared its independence. Despite Arab opposition, the new state has prospered. Today, decades on from the Holocaust, Israel is an economically successful and functioning democracy, writes ZION EVRONY.
I WAS BORN one year after the founding of the state of Israel. The following year, my family immigrated to a country recovering from a devastating war of independence. We lived in a transit camp that had been hurriedly established for Jewish refugees from Europe and the Middle East.
In 1956, when another war broke out, my family had to dig an improvised bomb shelter in our back yard. As a high school student at the time of the 1967 six-day war, I sheltered with my classmates during the Jordanian bombardment of Jerusalem. In 1973, I heard the sirens that alerted Israelis to the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war and rushed to join my reserve unit in the defence forces.
Like many Israelis, I have lived the history of my country in its relentless struggle to survive.
This month, Israel celebrates 60 years as an independent state, in a land where a Jewish presence has been maintained since biblical times. Its declaration of independence in May 1948 followed from the historic United Nations resolution of the previous November to create two states - one for the Jewish people in their historic homeland, and one for the Palestinians alongside it.
The birth of the state of Israel took place under extremely difficult conditions. In the first four months after the November 1947 UN resolution, more than 600 Jews were killed by Palestinian militants. Immediately following the declaration of Israel's independence in May 1948, five Arab armies invaded the new-born state in an effort to destroy it.
The ensuing war of independence cost the lives of more than 6,000 Israelis, almost 1 per cent of the population. All of this took place amid an influx of tens of thousands of displaced Holocaust survivors from Europe and Jewish refugees fleeing the surrounding Arab countries.
Given such fiery beginnings and the continuing acts of violence against it, one of Israel's greatest achievements over six decades has been the preservation of its democratic character. In the constant stream of news reporting on the current conflict, it is easy to forget that this small country, less than one-third the size of Ireland, with a population of seven million, including the 20 per cent Arab minority, sustains a modern, open and flourishing society.
Only a democratic framework could have ensured the spectacular economic advances made in recent decades, during which Israel has evolved into a world leader in sectors such as life sciences, software and renewable energy among others. In each case, the formula for success has been the same: the combination of an entrepreneurial spirit with expertise in scientific research, backed by a unique fiscal and business support structure and state-aided research and development in world-class educational institutions.
Since 1994, the life sciences sector has grown from 88 companies to a current total of more than 600. A particular strength is the production of medical devices, for which Israel is one of the leading centres of innovation. Examples are the world's first miniaturised portable cardiac ultrasound system, and an advanced CT scanner, performing a comprehensive scan of the patient's body in seconds rather than minutes.
In pharmaceuticals, Israeli multinational company Teva, recently in the news for its decision to invest €65 million in its Waterford plant, has developed a breakthrough drug, Copaxone, which gives multiple sclerosis patients a significant improvement in quality of life.
Today, Israel is a leading exporter of software. The country's particular strength lies in bringing innovations rapidly from the research stage to popularity in the market place.
Advances pioneered by Israeli companies and used in computers worldwide include the software for internet firewalls, voicemail, Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and internet instant messaging. More than 3,000 such firms give Israel the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world outside of Silicon Valley, California, and the largest number, after the United States, of Nasdaq-listed companies.
A similar culture of innovation is at work in the urgent search for renewable energy solutions. More than 100 Israeli companies work in this field, developing new means of generating electricity from biomass, geothermal, solar and wind energy sources. Likewise in agricultural technology, telecommunications and aerospace, Israeli innovations are recognised globally.
In their modern histories, Ireland and Israel have faced parallel challenges.
Both achieved independence from British rule. Ireland is currently addressing the integration of its recent immigrants who are of varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Israel has already accomplished such a task on a colossal scale, absorbing people from over 100 countries, speaking 82 languages, an achievement that gives a modern meaning to the biblical prophecy of "the ingathering of the exiles".
Both countries have also strived to revive an ancestral language. Israel has been successful in making the Hebrew language the common medium of communication of all its citizens.
Perhaps there is experience here from which Ireland can benefit. In the other direction, Israel is eager to learn from the Irish model of social partnership. Last October, a high-level delegation representing Israeli employers and trade unions visited Ireland to study the model in consultation with senior politicians and civil servants.
Ireland may justly celebrate the achievement of peace in Northern Ireland after decades of conflict. By contrast, although Israel has made peace with two of its former adversaries, Egypt and Jordan, it has not seen a cessation of violence on all fronts.
However, the most recent negotiations with the Palestinian Authority that began at Annapolis last September continue in Jerusalem. Although, as Israeli president Shimon Peres recently reflected, if the Palestinians had accepted the 1947 partition resolution, "we wouldn't have had to wait for Annapolis".
The two overriding goals of Israel's foreign policy have remained constant: to ensure the security of its own existence, and to bring forward the day when it can enjoy peace and neighbourly relations with a sovereign Palestinian state.
The establishment of the state of Israel in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people was an act of historic justice.
Having created a safe haven for its people after centuries of displacement and persecution, Israel continues to negotiate with moderate Palestinians in an effort to end conflict and instead build bridges of friendship.
Much remains to be accomplished, both in the peace process and in developing Israeli society.
One thing is certain: Israel is looking to the future with the same combination of determination and optimism that inspired its founders 60 years ago.
Zion Evrony is the ambassador of Israel to Ireland
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