On the fifteenth of May, 1948, following the dissolution of the British Mandate for Palestine, the armies of Egypt, Transjordan,Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded the newborn state of Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The rest, as we know, is history, and today the country full of Jewish refugees that was then hanging by a thread is a thriving first-world economy in a third-world sea (or desert). In fact, the Reut Institute’s “Israel 15” program now seeks to ensure that Israel join the 15 leading countries in terms of Quality of Life within 15 years. It seems especially doable with its booming high-tech sector. In fact, Google just bought its first Israeli start-up, Labpixies, last week!

“The start-up, which is run by a small team of 10 employees, has until now developed 70 widgets and has over 40 million users. The start-up is financed by private investors and received $1 million in a series round of funding in June 2008. One of the investors in Labpixies is Yaron Carni, who represents a boutique Angel group of high added value individuals from New York and London, who invest privately in a variety of Israeli based companies.” (article in the Jerusalem Post)