KE,
I was born on the second anniversary of Statehood. And, yes, it's obvious where my English name came from. I visited Israel in 1963 for my Bar Mitzvah and again in 1967, 1968, 1989 and 1999. If you'd like to know how Israel looked in the early 1960s, watch the movie Exodus which was filmed in 1960. The big boom in building came in the mid-60s so what you see in the movie is pretty much the way Israel was in during the War of Independence.
I worked on Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha after the Six Day War which was on the old Jordanian border near Rosh Ha Ayin. There were bomb shelters all around the Kibbutz which, fortunately, fell out of use use on my arrival. When I first saw the Western Wall in June 1967, it was an alley. The buildings in the area were soon bulldozed to create the plaza there now. When I visited the Sanhedrin Tombs, there were still remnants of the battle fought there just three weeks before. I needn't go into particulars. The Temple Mount and Shuk were deserted as the East Jerusalem population had fled the battle area. I visited and went to the top of Migdal Shalom in 1968 which was the tallest building in Israel at the time.
With each subsequent visit, I was pleased to see the country progressing. But you could always find areas which changed very little, as you no doubt know.
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