Israel @ 60: How does she compare?

At the age of sixty, Israel has already accomplished a lot. With bustling metropolises, developed infrastructures, excellent universities and a handful of wars under her belt (and currently on her belt), Israel has certainly gained a weathered maturity. But she hasn't hit her golden years yet; amidst Kassam rockets flying, never-ending peace talks and corrupt officials, Israel isn't having an easy start to her new decade. This practically begs the question: is it Israel? Or are the sixties, like the two's, just kind of terrible?

Of course, the only historically accurate way to answer this question is to pick four countries completely at random and compare where they were on their 60th, to determine once and for all if Israel has a 'real' conflict or if she is just enduring a birthday everyone would like to forget. With no forethought, I've picked Peru, Finland, America, and the Republic of Ireland.

After becoming colonized enough to understand the term, Peru achieved independence in 1821. In the adolescence of Peru's statehood, i.e. the 1840's through the 1860's, Peruvians bathed in the riches accumulated from the national export of guano (or bat poo). But they overshot the productivity of their natural resources and spent the 1870's in debt, in battle and in a cesspool of political unrest. Then, on Peru's 60th birthday, she linked arms with Bolivia and fought Chile in The War of the Pacific. (Remember that from ninth grade history? No, you don't). The war was about a piece of disputed land rich with goodies called the Atacama desert, and by 1881, Peru's capital of Lima was occupied by the Chilean invaders. The war didn't end for two more years—when Peru relented and signed a treaty at Ancon, seceding a big chunk of land for peace. Disputed land, occupation and land-for-peace. That's called foreshadowing.

Finland, a notoriously boring country, doesn't have much to offer in terms of internal or external conflict. She declared independence in 1917 from Bolshevist Russia and has been happy ever since (the happiest in the world, in fact, according to a Reader's Digest study published this past fall). But not so fast: the 1970's in Finland reveal a blemish. That's the decade when the country's heart disease death rate was the highest in the whole world. Finland's war on her 60th birthday was, in fact, taking place internally—literally within her internal organs.

It's tricky to say when Ireland officially became Ireland, since she declared herself a country in 1916, but no one really believed her until 1922. Let's be diplomatic and look at 1980 as Ireland's sixtysomething birthday. During the 80's, Ireland was in the thick of `The Troubles,' which were just as gloomy as they sound. The nationalist (Catholic) Irish were pitted against the unionist (Protestant) Irish over Northern Ireland's relationship with (and occupation by) England and its abundant religious discrimination.

England thought she was just `keeping the peace,' though the Northern Irish nationalists begged to differ. They demanded a freer Ireland and did so through a war of attrition, which included sneak attacks, public bombings, targeted killings and, in 1980, some highly publicized hunger strikes that left nearly a dozen dead.

Let's now turn to America, or as Americans calls her, `God's Country.' After centuries of plagues, public humiliation of the natives and innumerable apple pies, independence was declared in 1776 (or, if you prefer the Red Coat account, 1783).

By 1836, the US had already spent several decades yelling “manifest destiny!” at anyone who would (or wouldn't) listen, inciting brutal wars with the neighbors and trading land for beads. While the friskier Americans were grabbing land at every corner of the young nation, those who felt more comfortable staying put adopted the `plantation lifestyle,' which included corn husking (by slaves), cotton picking (by slaves) and gin drinking (made by slaves). After sixty years, was America stable, civilized and at peace? No. Were all people treated equally under the law? Yes, if by people you mean white men. At sixty, the pesky issue of equality was just edging onto the national radar.

In 1836, American news was filled with tales of the Alamo, the invention of Arkansas and the infamous gag rule. This rule, which sounds like it imposed some serious fun, was actually a big win for the pro-slavery faction, who decided that they didn't want to give up their right to have slaves, much less talk about it. America at sixty was not the basket of pluralism and freedom fries that she is today; the country was gagged, war-fringed and severely lacking in anything that resembled basic human rights.

If wild guessing tells us anything, it's that the sixties might just be a bum couple of years. If anything, this should bring optimism to the hearts of young Zionists: history repeats itself, and that repetition can teach us valuable lessons. As citizens of the countries of the world, we've all experienced our share of sticky borders, neighbors who don't like us, occupiers or guilt about occupying. When it comes down to it, it's the heart disease that's the real killer. What's the lesson here? Israelis should really stop smoking, because the rest will work itself out on its own.