This May, Israelis will look back over their country's 60 years of history with mixed feelings. To be sure, they (or their parents and grandparents) built a state from scratch, and it has prospered relative to its neighbours. Israel's gdp per head is around four times bigger, at purchasing-power parity, than the Arab world's, even including the oil-rich Gulf states, and the country has changed a lot more too. Almost gone are national stereotypes like the sunburned, sandalled kibbutznik and the family at Tel Aviv's airport arguing with a customs official over a mountain of foreign-bought gadgets and gifts; they can now buy most of the same stuff at home, even if it still costs a bit more.
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