Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary on Thursday, according to the Jewish calendar.Nothing about Jewish attachment to the land for thousands of years, nothing about Zionist history, nothing about the miraculous building of the land before 1948, nothing about Arab attacks before 1948, nothing about the UN Partition vote, nothing about Arab rejectionism. Nope - Jews just decided to declare a nation in a vacuum.Following is a chronology of its turbulent history:
May 14, 1948 - David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel hours before the British Mandate is due to end. On May 15, forces from five Arab countries attack Israel.
1949 - Armistices with Arab states but no formal peace.Because of....?
October 29, 1956 - Israel invades Gaza Strip and Sinai in conjunction with Suez Canal campaign launched by Britain and France against Egypt. Israeli forces withdraw in March 1957.No fedayeen attacks, no immigration of hundreds of thousand of Jews from Arab countries.
"What it sees as aggressive moves"? Nothing about Egypt's casus belli, nothing about Egypt expelling the UN forces from Sinai, nothing about non-stop incitement in Arab media for months leading up to the war, nothing about how Jordan attacked Israel - just somehow Israel, the aggressor, ended up "occupying" the West Bank magically.June 5, 1967 - Israel launches pre-emptive strikes against Egypt and Syria after what it sees as aggressive moves by Egypt. Six Day War leaves it occupying West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Sinai and Golan Heights.
September 5, 1972 - Palestinians kill 11 Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics. Israel later kills guerrilla leaders it blames.So both sides are equally guilty.
October 6, 1973 - Egypt and Syria attack along Suez Canal and Golan Heights. After initial reverses in Yom Kippur War, Israel pushes both armies back within three weeks.And losing thousands of young men.
February 1974 - Gush Emunim, religious Zionist group backing Jewish settlement expansion in occupied territories, founded.Do you think that any other organizations were founded in the intervening years? Any universities, world-class hospitals...anything?
Skipping a little, we get to the worst of all:
September 28, 2000 - Palestinian uprising begins after Likud leader Ariel Sharon visits Muslim holy site in Jerusalem.A Muslim holy site? Is it perhaps possible that it was the holiest site on the planet for Jews way before Mohammed walked the earth?
No, according to Reuters' worldview, Sharon specifically went to a Muslim holy site to rile up the hated Arabs, in a place that Jews should have no rights whatsoever. Not even a "disputed" site, in Reuters' worldview.
Reuters equally ignores any Israeli accomplishments in medicine, energy, defensive systems, computers, the Internet, physics...no, in Reuters' worldview, Israel's history is one of war.