Israel thrives on contradiction. Although it is a relatively new nation, it stands at the forefront of technology, its people turned passionately toward the future. But they have not forgotten a single moment of their past - the origin of their spiritual resources. From the country's desert sands and from the darkness of its caverns, vestiges of ancient times resurface: Israelite fortresses, Roman amphitheatres, Byzantine churches, and castles dating back to the crusades. Israel is a melting pot in which a universal unity and a wealth of unequalled social experience prevail. Hundreds of kibbutzim testify to the birth of a new way of life, and, after centuries of neglect, the land is rich with fertile fields and crops.The country represents the realization of a dream born of a people's will to return to their homeland after twenty centuries of Diaspora. It is a microcosm of ethnic groups, a meeting point for countless peoples, cultures, and civilizations all drawn to this strip of land by the promise of the Biblical prophecy. Israel is a land of ancestral history and unexpected natural beauty, but it is the human landscape that best portrays this young nation's role as a vital presence in the world today.