Palestinians today mourned Israel's 60th birthday with protests, sirens and black balloons.
In Jerusalem, however, visiting US President George W. Bush, speaking to the Israeli parliament, feted the Jewish state.
In Gaza, where Hamas seized control in June, nearly 1,000 children dressed up as anti-Israel militants, with fake guns and mortar launchers. Sirens sounded at noon in West Bank cities, bringing traffic on some streets to a standstill for two minutes.
But ceremonies marking the "Nakba" or catastrophe underscored an internal split between President Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, and Hamas Islamists who oppose the talks.
In the West Bank, Mr Abbas appealed for reconciliation and an end to Israeli settlement building on the 60th anniversary of Israel's birth, which Palestinians mourn as the loss of their homeland in 1948.
"Sixty years have passed . . . it's time to end the Nakba for the Palestinian people," said Mr Abbas, whose US-backed talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have shown little sign of progress.
But Hamas called on Palestinians to join the "resistance" against Israel and said Mr Abbas should "abandon the illusions of negotiations".
Mr Bush told parliament Israel's establishment "was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham and Moses and David - a homeland for the chosen people".
The speech contained just one reference to Palestinians and no mention of Bush's hope of sealing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves the White House in January.
Most Arab legislators boycotted the speech and three others were escorted out of parliament by security guards after they waved banners that read "We shall overcome".