But I wished passionately that Israel would become a democratic state for all its citizens, end the occupation, recognise the Palestinians' right of return, and acknowledge that Israel's establishment in 1948 was a Nakba, a catastrophe, for the Palestinians.
As Palestinians commemorate the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, literally "catastrophe" in Arabic, when the indigenous people of Palestine were driven out of Palestine into exile, and the Israeli state was established, there is a new Nakba taking place in tandem with the ongoing Nakba.
Some Palestinians, who thought they were on the brink of statehood four years ago, now say that the second intifada has been a second nakba.
Today, the entire region is experiencing a Nakba as the third major remapping of the Middle East in modern times gets underway.
The Israeli government, of course, is not all that happy about large groups of people banding together to shout about the creation of their state being a catastrophe, and Nakba Day demonstrations are often marked by violence.
Arab Jaffa, where my father lived before the nakba, was a vibrant cultural center where the best musicians from the Arab world performed.
Nakba day is a significant day for the Palestinian people.
For the Sabella family, Nakba day is a day of reflection.
Jaffa was once upon a time an Arab town and most of its inhabitants had fled during Israeli's War of Independence in 1948 (or the Nakba, if you are a Palestinian) it was attached to the modern mostly Jewish city of Tel-Aviv.
Written in Hebrew with an Arabic translation alongside it, the guidebook, according to its editors, is an acknowledgment of the Nakba (catastrophe) that befell Palestinians after 1948 when they were driven out of, or fled from, their homes.
