Um Rashrash

Avraham Aden, a Company Commander in the Negev Brigade, raises the improvised ink flag above the police station of Um Rashrash, marking the end of the "Ovda" operation.

The makeshift flag was made by the medic of the force after the soldiers of the unit discovered they do not have a flag.

The stripes were drawn in ink, and the Star of David was taken from a first aid kit.

After Egypt conquered the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip in 1948, fedayeen terrorists began cross border attacks on the Jewish kibbutzniks and farmers in Israel.

In 1956 when Gamal Abdul Nasser, the leader of Egypt closed the Suez Canal and cut of shipping from Israel's Port of Eilat, Israel was ready to attack. Initially French and British troops participated.

They joined Israel in order to maintain their hold on the Middle East and to prevent the encroachment of communism as Egypt was making closer ties with the Soviet Union.

But Israel did almost all the fighting, taking the entire Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip in a matter of days.

A year later, in an American brokered deal, Israel relinquished control of those areas back to Egypt.

But she gained vital information that lead to the swift victory of the Six Day War in 1967, when she again liberated the Sinai and Gaza.

Young Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres (Hebrew: שמעון פרס‎, born Szymon Perski on August 2, 1923) is the ninth and current President of the State of Israel.

Peres has long been a popular and important politician in Israel - he previously served two times as Prime Minister of Israel, one time as Acting Prime Minister, and has served in 12 cabinets over a political career lasting over 66 years.

Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.

Born in Poland in 1923, Peres moved with his family to Mandate Palestine in 1934. He held several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after the War for Independence in Israel. His first high level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and Director-General in 1953 through 1959.

During his career, he has represented five political parties in the Knesset: Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labour and Kadima, and has led Alignment and Labour.

Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks which he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.

Peres was nominated in early 2007 by Kadima to run in that year's presidential election, being elected by the Knesset for the presidency on June 13, 2007 and sworn into office on July 15, 2007 for a seven-year term.