Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A few blocks away, just over the wall, Palestinians in the West Bank mark that same day,
which they call “The Day of Catastrophe,” with sadness and demonstrations.
How do you build a new nation? For one thing, it's national policy to welcome all
Jews into Israel. The “Law of Return” entices Jewish immigrants with grants and loans,
subsidized housing, and classes to facilitate their assimilation. No matter how poor, for-
eign, and rough the returning Jew may be, the program expects to create well-educated,
Hebrew-speaking Israelis out of his family within two generations. Israel claims to have
successfully absorbed at least a million penniless refugees this way.
When you're surrounded on all sides by enemies, military readiness is serious busi-
ness. All Jewish Israelis go into the military at age 18: men for three years, women for two
years. While the primary purpose is to protect the country, a strong secondary purpose for
the universal draft is to build social cohesion. Military service functions as a kind of cul-
tural boot camp for first-generation Israelis—new arrivals from places like Russia, Iraq,
and Ethiopia. After three years in the army, they're no longer F.O.B. (“fresh off the boat”).
