Planners say 60th party fizzled for lack of time

Celebrations for Israel's 61st Independence Day begin tonight on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl and organizers are hoping the events leave more of an impression than they did last year, when the government poured NIS 100 million into festivities marking the state's 60th birthday with little effect.

Most people can remember little from last year's celebration aside from the unfortunate incident in which a parachutist landed on spectators watching the air show on Tel Aviv's beachfront.

Israel's 60th birthday party was preceded by a series of meetings, disputes and confrontations, but the one lasting result seems to have been a feeling of having missed an opportunity.

"There was no reason for a real party. The security situation, the economic situation and the chaos of passing the torch between various politicians on everything related to these celebrations had an effect," said an official involved in planning the celebrations.

"What do we remember from all of these events? Nothing," said a member of the advisory committee. "And only a year has passed since then."

Organizers said over four million people around the country participated in last year's events, which they said returned NIS 20 million of the NIS 100 investment to the state's coffers.

Noam Semel, the director of Tel Aviv's Cameri Theater, is among the critics of last year's events. He said only one was thing necessary for them to succeed - early planning.

"Now, right now, we need to start planning events for the 75th Independence Day celebrations, with everything that implies. Look at the Tel Aviv municipality marking its centennial. Here we see celebrations that were planned early on," he said.

Semel had been enlisted to head the advisory committee by Ophir Pines-Paz, then the minister tasked with organizing last year's celebrations. Pines-Paz was later replaced by Jacob Edery, himself replaced by Ruhama Avraham Balila. "The central theme that I recommended, Israel's children, remained, but in the end they made a big mess of the whole thing," Semel said.

Semel is not the only one who feels an opportunity was missed.

A number of initiatives mentioned at the outset of planning were never actually implemented, such as creating a 60-kilometer walking path around Lake Kinneret. Sources involved in its planning said in response the path is currently under construction, and that they had never promised it would be opened before last year's celebrations.

"Despite the skepticism that stemmed from the very short period of time at our disposal, we were able to create a wide spectrum of activities across the country," Avraham Balila said yesterday.

Members of the advisory committee said most of the activities planned were eventually implemented, but conceded that the limited span of time they had to work meant the committee had inadequate influence on the celebrations.