Israel has closed its borders with the West Bank and Gaza and set up extra security checkpoints as the nation celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Fireworks, an air show and nation-wide picnics were all part of the festivities as Israelis looked back with pride on the past, despite looming uncertainty about the future, said CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer.
"This is almost a patriotic sigh of relief for people," she told Canada AM.
"They attach importance to milestones. Sixty years, they say, is not a long time to build what they see as a successful country -- though they acknowledge it still has its flaws. But people feel good they've come this far in 60 years, though they still have some uncertainty about what the next years will hold."
Israel experiences near-daily militant rocket attacks, militant threats from inside and outside its borders, tensions over Hamas-run Gaza and controversy over settlements in the Palestinian territories.
As well, a new criminal investigation into corruption allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is pushing for a peace agreement with moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, may mean his job is in jeopardy.
"While this is being seen as a happy time, Israelis are also feeling a deep uncertainty, and it's not helped at all by the fact that the political leaders are constantly mired in scandal," Mackey Frayer said.
There is also little progress on peace talks brokered by U.S. President George Bush, who has set a goal of reaching a deal by the end of the year.
On Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said "the peace process is facing difficulties when compared with its declared goals."
Meanwhile, demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank on Thursday served as a reminder that many Palestinians are still profoundly opposed to the Jewish state, the creation of which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in 1948.
In Bethlehem, The Associated Press reports roughly 500 marchers paraded behind a giant key symbolizing refugees' hope that they will one day return to their villages in what is now Israel. Most of those communities no longer exist.
The deep-rooted tension and disagreements in the region, Mackey Frayer said, suggest the objectives set out by Bush seem increasingly out of reach.
And if demographic trends continue, Arabs, who now make up one-fifth of Israel's population could become a majority -- another concern for Israelis looking for a more secure future, she said, reporting from a beach where thousands of Israelis had gathered to celebrate.
"People feel a lot better about looking at the past -- looking at the success of the past 60 years than looking ahead to the future because it is so uncertain," Mackey Frayer said.
With files from The Associated Press
