I almost got swept away in all the nice things people were saying about Israel and the Israelis now that its our 60th birthday and all. But I just got out of the Ben Shemen Forest [a good mountain biking and hiking spot between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem] and this most beautiful of forests has pockets which are a total mess. Most of the forest is clean, but there are some campsites and picnic spots where people had left plates, kebabs, bottles, bongs [yes, even dope bongs], and assorted garbage all over. In some places it looks like the people had eaten, drunk, and smoked their fill, and literally just got up and left. The plates, bottles and garbage were all in place on the big wooden tables. They didn’t even bother gathering all the trash into one place.

Some of us act like children sometimes. For a while I’ve been looking for a tagline that would encapsulate Israel at 60. And I think I’ve found it: Ancient people, Young Nation.

I think that the Parks and Nature Authority and the KKL should post cameras at popular camp and picnic sites all over Israel’s forests and track down the people who leave serious trash and pollution in the area. These people should be fined and shamed. This is such a tiny country, and its green spaces are so scarce and vulnerable, that anyone caught polluting and damaging them should pay a very steep price. I don’t like the idea of cameras in forests, but this is just not getting any better, and no amount of government-funded radio ads begging people not to pollute are helping.