Happy birthday, Israel, 60 this month. Or, rather, happy birthday, Israels. For there are two Jewish states. The first is a vigorous democracy, with a vibrant civil society, a robust independent judiciary and an aggressive free press. It’s a multicul-tural society, boasting Arab members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament; Arab diplomats and university professors; soldiers and beauty queens; and even a Muslim cabinet minister...

Then there is the second Israel, whose security fence snakes beyond the Green Line, the pre1967 border, cutting deep into Palestinian territory. That Israel subsidises the settlers’ para-state, which has its own water and electricity supplies, its roads forbidden to Palestinians – all guarded by the Israeli army.