Photos – Negev desert, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Ein Hod, Jerusalem, Masada,

Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Omer

Music : Our tiny land– Artzeinu haktantonet Rami Kleinstein

David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister

of Israel. He is considered the "father" of modern Israel. Ben-Gurion was also

named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Important

People of the Century.

In 1969, Golda Meir became Israel’s first and the world's third woman to hold the

officeof Prime Minister.

She was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics.

Marcel Iancu was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist and architect who

contributed to the early development of the

Israeli art. He is also well-known as the co-

inventor of Dadaism (new ways of

experimenting with abstract sight and thought).

After 1953, his work centered on the establishment of Ein Hod, as an art

colony.

Reuven Rubin was a Romanian-born Israeli painter and

Israel's first ambassador to Romania.He was one of the founders of the new “Eretz

Yisrael” style. His themes were the biblical landscape, folklore and

people. Many of his paintings are about Jerusalem and the

Galilee.

Yaacov Agam is a sculptor.His work is usually abstract, kinetic art with movement and viewer

participation. Agam frequently uses light and sound. His works are displayed in many

public places. This fountain is in Tel Aviv.

Ilana Goor is an international artist known for her uniquely styled sculptures, furniture,

lighting, jewelry, and accessories. She works and lives in a restored 18th-century house located in the very heart of ancient Jaffa which overlooks the Mediterranean. She has turned part of it into a

museum of her sculptures in wood, stone, and metal, alongside works of art from her private collection.

In the 18th century, the house was used as the first khan for Jewish pilgrims en route to Jerusalem.

Ephraim Kishon - author, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director .He is one of the most widely-read contemporary satirists in the world .

Kishon's books have been translated into 37 languages . He wrote, directed and produced five feature films (all of them

comedic/satirical movies) .Three movies were nominated for major international awards (The Golden

Globe award) ;two were nominated for the Oscar: Sallah Shabati and Ha-Shoter Azoulay.

Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1971, and who writes regularly to her fans in her mailing list about Israel

and Jewish issues. Naomi has published eight internationally best selling novels, and is the author of a hit

play (Women's Minyan) which has been performed more than 500 times in Israel's National Theatre (Habimah)

as well as in the United States and Argentina.

Amos Oz was in recent years a serious candidate to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has published 35 books since 1965, including 13 novels, four volumes of short stories and

novels,children’s books and nine books containing essays and articles.

Amos Oz is known for books like ‘A Perfect Peace’ (1982), ‘Black Box’ (1987), ‘How to Cure a Fanatic’ (2006),

‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’ (2003), ‘Scenes from Village Life’ (2009). In 2007, his book "A Tale of Love and Darkness" was nominated as one of the ten most

important books since the creation of the State of Israel.

Colonel Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut. In 2003, he died as a member

of the crew on the space shuttle Columbia.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon Awarded the Nobel prize for Literature, 1966

His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world ..

They also attempt to revive the fading traditions of the European

shtetl (village).

Avram Hershko Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2004

Daniel Kahneman Nobel Prize for

Economics, 2002

Aaron Ciechanover Nobe Prixe for Chemistry ,

2004

Robert Aumann Nobel Prize for Economics,

2005

Dan Shechtman Nobel Prize for

Chemistry,2011

Ada E. Yonath Nobel Prize for

Chemistry,2009

Daniel Oren has conducted at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the Metropolitan in New York, the Arena in Verona, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bastille in Paris and the opera houses of Rome, Trieste, Genoa, Florence, Parma, Turin, Venice,

Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Tokyo, Huston, Washington and many others.

Oren also conducted in Masada : Nabuco, Aida, Carmen

Itzhak Perlman is a violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st

centuries. Perlman has also played jazz and klezmer. He has been a soloist for a number of

movie scores, such as the 1993 film Schindler's List and Memoirs of a Geisha., along with cellist

Yo-Yo Ma.

Shlomo Mintz and Pinchas Zukerman

are violin virtuosos, and conductors. They regularly appear with orchestras and

conductors on the international scene and are

heard in recitals and concerts around the world.

Yoav Talmi,conductor and composer.

Music Director, San Diego Symphony1987–1996.

Chief Conductor, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra 2000-2004.

Talmi's compositions include an Elegy for Strings, Timpani and Accordion ("Dachau

Reflections").

Guy Braunstein ,violonist, developed

a solo and chamber music career.He performed as a soloist with

leading orchestras around the world.

In 2000, Braunstein was appointed as the Concertmaster of the

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ivry Gitlis - violinist. He has performed with the world's top orchestras (New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and

Israel Philharmonic), and many of his recordings are considered classics.

Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally

recognized by audiences and critics alike as one of

today’s most virtuosic and engaging classical

artists.

Haim Topol came to greatest prominence in the role of Tevye, the milkman, in the long-running

musical show Fiddler on the Roof .

He later starred in the 1971 film version.

In 1972, Topol won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a

Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film.

Natalie Portman is a very talented Israeli-American actress.

Won an Academy Award for Best Actress

in 2011 in the film Black Swan.

Ofra Haza , a very popular singer, was invited to sing in front of the Pope, as well as on other major and important occasions such as the Nobel Prize ceremonies and the peace

deal signing in Israel. Her music fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and

dance-beat. She became successful in Europe and the Americas; during her singing career, and

has earned many platinum and gold discs.

Achinoam Nini, also known by her professional name Noa, is a leading Israeli international concert and recording artist.

Noa has performed in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, Olympia in Paris, Rome's Colosseum. In 2000, Noa

recorded the theme song of "Life Is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni's Oscar award-winning film.

The popular ICQ instant-messaging program was created by four Israeli computer geeks: Yair Goldfinger, Arik Vardi, Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir – four men who have really changed the world.

For the first time, it was possible for people to communicate with their friends and know when their friends are online.

In 1999, Dov Moran, an Israeli engineer and entrepreneur, along with his colleagues at MSystems, invented an innovative device

that could be connected to a computer quickly and easily.

The device did not require a preliminary installation process and it operated using a

standard connection that exists in any modern computer.

It was small, reliable and enabled unlimited expansion of the scope of memory.

VoIP technology enables telephone calls

to be transmitted via the internet.

The internet was originally designed to transfer computer data, thus a special

application that would allow the transfer of telephone calls

via the internet had to be developed.

This type of innovative software was first developed in 1995 by Alon Cohen,

Lior Haramati, Ofer Shem-Tov, Elad Sion,

Opher Kahane and Dror Tirosh, Israeli software developers at

VocalTec .

In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur, Amnon Ovadia, identified the need for an online English-Hebrew

dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process.

As a result, Babylon, Ltd. was founded in 1997 and launched the first version of Babylon, a computer dictionary and translation program.

Drip irrigation - the system that is based on using plastic pipes that release small amounts of water

next to roots of plants - was developed by the Israeli engineer, Simcha Blas.

The invention caused a revolution in agriculture and has been adopted by farmers in many countries .

Blass and his son Yeshayahu and the desert-based Kibbutz Hatzerim (near Beer Sheva ) established

Netafim Irrigation Company. Production began in 1966. Netafim engineers working with Blass, developed the online dripper - indeed allowing the

desert to bloom.

Aleksandr Averbukh won three gold medals in the pole vault at European championships (2000 - indoor, 2002 and 2006) as well as

two medals at the World championships (1999 and 2001).

Shahar Pe'er, (left) earned a career-high singles ranking of World No. 11, which she achieved on

January 31, 2011 (it is the highest ranking ever for an Israeli singles tennis player, male or female).

The doubles team of Andy Ram and Joni Erlich (below) won the quarterfinals in 2003 at Wimbledonand in September of the same year, the duo's first

tournament was won in the Thailand Open. They ranked (World No.7 team ) in 2006 and 2008

as the Australian Open champions.

Dudi Sela (right) reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. He is currently Israel's top men's singles player.

Photo:People's Daily Online

Athens Olympic Games in Greece, August 25, 2004. Windsurfer Gal Fridman became the

first Israeli competitor to win an Olympic Games

gold medal.

In 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic games, judo champion , Yael Arad,

won a silver medal and became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal.

Tal Brody – former basketball player. In 1979, he was awarded the country's highest civilian honor, the Israel Prize. In 1977, he led tiny Israel's basketball team to the European Cup Basketball Championship. Along the way, his team defeated the heavily favored CSKA Moscow.

Brody's famous remark upon beating the Soviets: "We are on the map! And we are staying on the map – not only in sports, but in everything " – became a part of Israeli culture

25 April 2012

“In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”

David Ben-Gurion

Photos – Noemi.Ervin,Adi,LiviuNegev desert, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Ein Hod, Jerusalem, Masada, Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Omer