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Last update - 00:13 07/04/2008
Israel's diamond jubilee to come with NIS 98 million price tag
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel

Israel's government is promising a lavish 60th anniversary party this
summer, with aerial displays, concerts, and a nationwide laser light show in a package with a NIS 98 million price tag.

At a news conference Sunday to announce the events, Cabinet minister Ruhama Avraham Balila said some of the budget would go on projects with a lifespan beyond this year's celebrations.
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One is a 1,200 kilometer trans-Israel cycle trail, a footpath
circling the Sea of Galilee and renovation of war memorials around the country.

World leaders and other VIPs are expected to visit Israel for the birthday celebrations. U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to arrive on May 14.

Another project scheduled on behalf of Israel's anniversary is a youth drive to collect 1.5 million marbles, representing the number of Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

The marbles will be encased in a monument to the dead children near Tel Aviv.

"We hope that when children see what one and a half million actually looks like, rather than as an abstract number, it will really bring home the reality of what happened," said Haim Goldberg, head of the steering group for the anniversary observances.

While Independence Day is marked with by fireworks and dancing,Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and many of the 1.4 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens see the founding of the Jewish state as a tragic event which they call it al-Naqba, Arabic for the catastrophe.

Avraham Balila acknowledged the sensitivity of the commemoration for Israeli-Arabs - who make up about one fifth of the country's population - and said this year's program would include a workshop on coexistence for Jewish and Arab youngsters and a Bedouin festival in the rundown Bedouin desert town of Rahat.

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      1.   $28 million? Betcha we see almost none of it 20:54  |  Joe Sittizen 06/04/08
      2.   give the money to the poor people forget lavish its satanic 01:10  |  reza SHAH 07/04/08
      3.   What are you celebrating?? 01:31  |  William 07/04/08
      4.   Nakbeh not Naqbeh 01:37  |  Shua 07/04/08
      5.   reza shah,william,shuah,,friends,israel`s celebration is indeed 03:21  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
      6.   I dont see any thing to celebrate, 05:12  |  Cerdic 07/04/08
      7.   No 2 from Teheran 05:43  |  Alfred 07/04/08
      8.   I dont see anything to celebrate Resp 06:14  |  Alfred 07/04/08
      9.   To Cerdic and William 06:42  |  Moshe 07/04/08
      10.   To cerdic and william 06:52  |  Moshe 07/04/08
      11.   to Lakshmi 07:01  |  Moshe 07/04/08
      12.   To Cerdic and William 07:14  |  Moshe 07/04/08
      13.   To Cerdic and William 07:18  |  Moshe 07/04/08
      14.   israel is not a country its wellfare entity and charity box 07:24  |  reza SHAH 07/04/08
      15.   60th anniversary 07:43  |  ruti 07/04/08
      16.   We have 98 million sheckles to throw away on Israel`s Anniversary 07:44  |  Millicent 07/04/08
      17.   William in Tennessee is celebrating too! 08:08  |  Joe Sittizen 07/04/08
      18.   Why are wasting so much money, when it could be better spent. 08:13  |  Safta M. 07/04/08
      19.   Have fun. I don`t mind footing the bill 09:18  |  Natallie Durson 07/04/08
      20.   The 60th anniversary 10:37  |  Hastaroth 07/04/08
      21.   HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY ISRAEL!!!!! 11:18  |  Lily 07/04/08
      22.   Israeli Arabs must be included 11:38  |  Sherlock Holmes 07/04/08
      23.   HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY ISRAEL!!!! ISRAELIS &WELL WISHERS CELEBRATE 12:00  |  Lily 07/04/08
      24.   we dont have to give everything to the poor sometimes lets celebr 12:11  |  zionist forever 07/04/08
      25.   HaTikva 12:51  |  MazalUK 07/04/08
      26.   For Moshe 13:42  |  William 07/04/08
      27.   11 Moshe,14 reza Shah;Moshe how are the Arab countries responsibl 13:46  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
      28.   26 William&11 Moshe,William more to the point are the facts 14:56  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
      29.   Give my 14 shekels to the elderly. 12:18  |  Nicole 08/04/08
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