Mood Is Dark as Israel Marks 62nd Year as a Nation

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/middleeast/20israel.html?hp

This article describes the lead up to Israel's independence day. According to the article this year there is "something about the mood this year that feels darker than usual", describing some of the worries being experienced by the country as of late. In addition to fear of Iran developing and employing a nuclear weapon, Israel is concerned with the growing tensions between themselves and the Obama administration. Furthermore, the data taken from a poll conducted by BBC shows that Israel along with Iran, North Korea and Pakistan are viewed least favorably by people around the world. Additionally, Israel argues that they are still rejected and resented by most of the arab world, due to their existence.

This article may be evaluated through a constructivist perspective. Constructivism, argues that states relations are a result of the way in which they perceive each other. In this situation Israel is preoccupied with Iran's development of a nuclear weapon because they perceive Iran to be a danger to themselves. According Gregory, this is due to the way in which Israel has defined themselves in accordance to Iran and the other arabic states that surround it. Therefore there sense of insecurity comes from them having defined themselves as "the other" or the opposite of what the arab states. This comes from both states perceiving themselves as being inherently different from the other, in terms of religion and culture, ultimately leading these states to being in conflict with each other. This may be seen as Mr. Netanyahu stated that "Israel must again become an inalienable part of the West". Thus, differentiating themselves from what is considered to be oriental.