Israeli Independence Day, or The Clap Goes Political

This year's Independence Day was so much better than last. First, The Spouse was home. Second, it only took our bus three hours to get to Neve Dekalim instead of the nine hours it took last year. Third, it was temperate-to-cool, so I got to wear my politically-correct-for-the-venue Clapotis



I love the strech of land between Shirat HaYam and the lake. On Thursday it was crowded with people, but you could still find empty stretches



But once we got to the lake area, where the speechifying was to take place, it was wall-to-wall people:








I know the struggle costs money, but I found the commercialization disturbing. Every time I turned around, another one of Noam Livnat's daughters was trying to get me to buy some Gush Katif product. I have to wonder--since they're from Elon Moreh, why aren't they concentrating on saving north Shomron?

Some more shots of the beauty that is Gush Katif:





And the saddest picture, the terrace of the Hof Dekalim hotel, which has been without guests for the past 5 years and has fallen into massive disrepair:



Next up: I've been tagged!