JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) -- Israelis fired up barbecues in packed campgrounds and beaches across the country yesterday as they celebrated the 62nd anniversary of the Jewish state's creation.

The air force and navy held displays, and leaders including the president, prime minister, defence minister and military chief of staff staged a singalong at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.

And Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told diplomats foreign pressure would aggravate the Middle East crisis -- a jab at the US administration that has pressed Israel to make concessions in a bid to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.

"Peace cannot be enforced, it must be built," the right-wing minister said.

He also insisted the status of Jerusalem, one of the "core issues" in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, was not negotiable.

"Today I stand before you in Jerusalem, as Israel's foreign minister, and reaffirm late Prime Minister (Menachem) Begin's statement: Jerusalem is our undivided, eternal capital."

Celebrations kicked off at sundown on Monday with fireworks in honour of Israel's founding on May 14, 1948, corresponding this year to April 20, according to the Jewish calendar.

The occupied West Bank was sealed off from Israel and annexed Arab east Jerusalem for the duration of Israel's only secular public holiday.

US President Barack Obama affirmed in a statement his country's "unbreakable bond" with Israel.

He said he looked forward "to continuing our efforts with Israel to achieve comprehensive peace and security in the region, including a two-state solution" with the Palestinians.

Ties between Israel and its main ally have been deeply strained as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed US and Palestinian demands for a halt to settlement construction in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, one of just two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, also called for renewed peace efforts.

"I am pleased to congratulate you on the occasion of your Independence Day celebrations," he said in a letter to President Shimon Peres.