The State of Israel’s 69th Independence Day, on May 2, is overshadowed this year by the 50th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War that took place on June 5-10, 1967. This underscores the fissures gouged in the core of Israeli society by the country’s impressive military victory, which continue to tear it apart.

In the 69th year of the state’s establishment, one part of its Jewish society — under the orchestration of the government — will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem and raise a glass to 50 years since the liberation of Judea, Samaria (the biblical names of the West Bank) and the Golan Heights. Another part of Jewish society, along with the state’s Arab minority, will mark the jubilee of the forced annexation of East Jerusalem to Israel and its occupation of the West Bank. (For now, the Syrian civil war has removed the Golan Heights from the equation.)

On May 1, at ceremonies marking the country’s national Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers, and on the morning on its Independence Day, millions of Israelis sing the national anthem, "Hatikva" ("Hope"): “To be a free people in our land.” Does ruling over another nation make the Jewish people residing in Zion freer than they were 50 years ago? And where is “our land” anyway? Even after 69 years of existence, “our land” does not have recognized borders. There is not even agreement about where they are among the millions of Israelis and Jews who identify with Zionist values, but refuse to take part in the flag parade in the Old City of Jerusalem held annually on Jerusalem Day (celebrating the 1967 unification of the city), and do not celebrate the “liberation of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights” captured by Israel in 1967.

On the 69th anniversary of its independence and the 50th anniversary of its splendid military victory in June 1967, Israel is moving away from the realization of the Declaration of Independence crafted by its founders and read on the 5th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar (May 14), 1948. It says the state “will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel.” It also says that the State of Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights for all its citizens, regardless of their religion, race and gender. It calls on the Arab people, residents of the State of Israel, to preserve peace and take part in the building of the state based on full and equal citizenship and appropriate representation in all the state’s institutions, both temporary and permanent.