Excerpts from HaTzofeh\'s editorial today:

We thank G-d, L-rd of the armies of Israel, for our having merited reaching and celebrating the 53rd anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. This year, possibly more than on any other Independence Day in the past, our Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel comes from the depth of our hearts: \"Protect it with Your mercy, spread upon it the canopy of Your peace, send Your light and Your truth to its leaders and provide them with good counsel.\"

If we thought that the peace with Egypt and Jordan, and our willingness to make great concessions to Syria and the Palestinians, would bring peace and tranquility to our Land, and that the full withdrawal from Lebanon would relieve the tensions on our northern border, the list of bereavement that grew this year reminds us that the way to the longed-for independence is still long and hard.

...The hands of our leaders are handcuffed when they try to protect their citizens, on both sides of the Green Line. Israeli citizens\' sense of security has become shaken, while the brazenness of our enemies increases as they learn the limitations of our strength - limitations that have no justification amongst a people that experienced the horrors of the Holocaust and has been persecuted throughout the world.

We can of course comfort ourselves and concentrate this day on Israel\'s achievements in the fields of science, medicine, agriculture, and hi-tech, and on our Israel Prize and Bible winners. But it appears that on this 53rd Independence Day, Israel has retreated to several of its starting lines. It would not be too daring to say that many of its citizens are asking themselves whether Israel\'s future is guaranteed.

On the public agenda we find the Arab refugees\' demand to return, a withdrawal to the 1967 borders, the division of Jerusalem, and the continued unrestrained incitement against Israel in Palestinian schools and media. Israel must respond to this double-edged sword... but this unity government, like its predecessors, has not yet internalized that this is an absolutely existential question.

Only a response along these lines by our country\'s leadership, with all that it entails, will lead us to be able to celebrate the next Independence Day with greater pride and more happiness.