Over the past few weeks Israel has become a sea of emblems to mark the 60th anniversary of its creation, with blue and white flags cloaking the state's cities, towns and settlements. The celebrations are patriotic bravado, making America's fourth of July celebrations seem like a few weenies snugly subdued in their buns, but it's the insecurity behind them that's clearly exposed.

Ceremonies commemorating the 1948 war not only intend to reassure Israeli Jews that the land they've taken is firmly in their control, but also convince Palestinians of the unshakable authority of the self-proclaimed Jewish state. It is Israel's front lines - whether they be the West Bank settlements, Jerusalem or Palestinian Israeli centers - that have become most visibly consumed by the Magen David.

On April 24, as part of the build-up of events to Israel's independence celebrations, Jaffa's old port area appeared more visually Israeli than Tel Aviv's King George Street , with flags clinging to every lamppost and street corner. Veterans of the Irgun in collaboration with the Irgun Memorial museum in Mansheeah held walking tours and commemoration ceremonies for the "liberation of Jaffa." During the 1948 war, the Zionist militia founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who looked to Italian fascism as a model for a Jewish state, conquered the city, forcing most of its over 70,000 Palestinian residents to flea on boats to Gaza. The museum is located in the former house of Mansheeah's sheik, and was the only building left standing in the town after the invasion.

The tours were intended as war walks, marking historical battle sites and listening to veterans anecdotes of the struggle, while teenagers in military uniforms reenacted events from the time. For many of the mostly West Bank settlers who came in to participate in the events, the tours may have seemed like a victory promenade. While most of Jaffa's Palestinian residents attempted to ignore the Israeli flags smothering their main streets, police and boarder police vehicles patrolled at top speed on the lookout for Arabs that might break from their daily routines.

However it was in the final proclamation of victory in front of the sheik's house later that day - veterans gathered in the front row - that exposed both the anniversaries' vulnerability and violence. Next to the beach in a seated outdoor theater, the museum hosted speeches about the sacrifice of former Irgun soldier and Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, while Tel Aviv anarchists, social justice activists and Jaffa Palestinians attempted to drown out the event with pots and pans.

"We all knew there would be a lot of celebrations around the anniversary, but they've just gone too far," said Kim Yuval from Anarchists Against the Wall. "To celebrate this kind of conquest is too much."

The demonstration of about 100 people, originally a hundred meters from the ceremony, was quickly and aggressively pushed back by police in motorcycle helmets and border police. Police started attacking demonstrators when the noise began to disrupt the event and arrests commenced as activists started cat calling. "Begin was terrorist" shouted one activist next to the theater, just before he was grabbed and dragged away by police and soldiers.

Police then charged the crowds grabbing signs, pots and pans while hurling and beating protestors backwards. Later, more activists were arrested for similarly disruptive chanting. The police and event organizers attempt at breaking up the protest sends a clear message about the fragility and need for forced acquiescence to the official line, silencing the threat of an interruption from the Jaffa narrative.

In a similar vein, settlements and settlers claimed territory in East Jerusalem are oozing with a boisterous nationalism, covering the Palestinians presence with big flags on big patrolling army jeeps. At the same time, settler cars fly Israel's national symbol on every window as they speed down Palestinian streets. The slogan "Israel lives," covers the concrete settlement bus stops, which double as fortified cover in case of a shoot out. Behind the message of 60 years of strength and unity, the Israeli festivities expose the sensitivity of a society trying violently and desperately to claim authority over what's not theirs.