Israelis fire up Independence Day grills

TEL AVIV - Israelis flocked to forests and nature reserves on Thursday to celebrate the Jewish state's 57th year of independence with their traditional barbecues despite a Hizbullah rocket attack against an Israeli town the night before that caused no casualties but marred the festive mood temporarily around the country.

An air force flight show marked the start of the day's celebrations, as its planes flew over the president's residence in Jerusalem. Traffic was backed up for miles as Israelis took to the road to visit national parks and historic army bases all around the country.

See exclusive Channel 10 video footage of Wednesday's Independence Day celebrations!

This year's Independence Day came amid a cease-fire declared by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to end more than four years of violence since the start of a Palestinian uprising in September 2000.

Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, have said they would abide by a de facto truce for the next few months if Israel halts operations in the West Bank and Gaza, but have threatened in recent weeks to break it after some arrests and killings of Palestinians by the army.

But the lull in violence was broken of Wednesday night, the eve of Independence Day, when the Lebanese terrorist group Hizbullah fired a rocket into the northern Israeli border town of Shlomi, causing no caualties. Security officials have said Israel would not evaluate how to respond to the attack until after the holiday.

Sharon: Palestinians could resume attacks after pullout 

Sharon also warned that Palestinian armed factions may resume violence after a planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip this summer. The terrorist groups want to portray the withdrawal, Israel's first from land Palestinians want for a state, as a victory.

"I am not sure Israel's problems will be solved even after we complete the mission I am striving to carry out," he said at a state Independence Day ceremony. 

Israel imposed a closure of the West Bank and Gaza in the wake of increased alerts of impending attacks by terrorists during the weekend of Independence Day festivities and expects to lift it on Saturday.

Israel Police Operational Division Head Kobi Cohen told Ynetnews that "declaring an emergency situation emerges from the fact that this is an unusual event that requires effort over many, long hours."

Thousands of policemen, reinforced by civilian guard troops and soldiers, are set to secure the entertainment stages throughout the country. In addition, mobile police stations will be positioned in particularly crowded areas during the holiday.

In addition, police and IDF forces reinforced outposts in and around the territories to prevent Palestinians without legal permits from entering the country.

- Ronny Sofer, Hanan Greenberg, Efrat Weiss, Ahiya Raved and Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to this report