ADDRESS BY PRIME MINISTER YITZHAK RABIN
TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
WASHINGTON, 26 JULY 1994
Mr. Speaker,
Mr. President,
Distinguished Members of the Congress,
His Majesty, the King of Jordan,
I start by the Jewish word "shalom".
Each year, on Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars, I go to the
cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Facing me are the graves and
headstones, the colorful flowers blooming on them - and thousands of pairs
of weeping eyes. I stand there, in front of the large silent crowd - and
read in their eyes the words of The Young Dead Soldiers - as the famous
Americah poet Archibald MacLeish entitled the poem from which I take these
lines:
"They say:
Whether our lives and our deaths
were for peace and a new hope,
or for nothing,
we cannot say;
it is you who must say this".
We have come from Jerusalem to Washington because it is we who must say, -
and we are here to say: Peace is our goal. It is peace we desire.
With me here in this House today are my partners in this great dream.
Allow me to refer to some Israelis who are here with me, here with you:
* Amiram Kaplan, whose first brother was killed in an accident, whose
second brother was killed in pursuit of terrorists, whose third brother
was killed in war, and whose parents died of heartbreak. And today he is a
seeker of peace.
* Moshe Sasson, who, together with his father, was an emissary to the
talks with King Abdallah and to other missions of peace. Today he is also
an emissary of peace.
* With me, a classmate of mine, Chana Rivlin of Kibbutz Gesher, which
faces Jordan, who endured bitter fighting and lost a son in war. Today she
looks out her window onto Jordan, and wants the dream of peace to come
true.
* Avraham Daskal, almost 90 years old, who worked for the Electric Company
in Trans-Jordan and was privileged to attend the celebrations marking King
Hussein's birth, is hoping for peace in his lifetime.
* And Dani Matt, who fought against Jordan in the War of Independence, was
taken prisoner of war, and devoted his life to the security of the State
of Israel. He hopes that his grandchildren will never know war.
* Mrs. Penina Herzog, whose husband wove the first threads of political
ties with Jordan.
With us here in this hall are:
* Mr. Gabi Kadosh, the mayor of Eilat, which touches the frontier with
Jordan and will be a focus of common tourism.
* And Mr. Shimon Cahaner, who fought against the Jordanians, memorializes
his fallen comrades, and hopes that they will have been the last to fall.
* And Mr. Talal al-Krienawi, the mayor of a Bedouin town in Israel, who
looks forward to renewing the friendship with their brothers in Jordan,
* And Mr. David Coren, a member of a kibbutz which was captured by the
Jordanians in 1948, who awaits the day when the borders will be open.
* And Dr. Asher Susser, a scholar who has done research on Jordan
throughout his adult life.
* And Dr. Sharon Regev, whose father was killed while pursuing terrorists
in the Jordan Valley, and who yearns for peace with all his heart.
Here they are before you. All of them wanted to come. Here they are,
people who never rejoiced in the victories of war, but whose hearts are
now filled with joy in peace.
I have come here from Jerusalem on behalf of those thousands of bereaved
families - though I haven't asked their permission. I stand here on behalf
of the parents who have buried their children; of the children who have no
fathers; and of the sons and daughters who are gone, but return to us in
our dreams. I stand here today on behalf of those youngsters who wanted to
live, to love, to build a home.
I have come from Jerusalem in the name of our children, who began their
lives with great hope - and are now names on graves and memorial stones;
old pictures in albums; fading clothes in closets.
Each year as I stand before the parents whose lips are chanting "Kaddish",
the Jewish memorial prayer, ringing in my ears are the words of Archibald
MacLeish, who echoes the plea of the young dead soldiers:
"They say: We leave you our deaths.
Give them their meaning".
Let us give them meaning. Let us make an end to bloodshed. Let us make
true peace. Let us today be victorious in ending war.
The debate goes on: Who shapes the face of history? - leaders or
circumstances?
My answer to you is: We all shape the face of history. We, the people. We,
the farmers behind our plows, the teachers in our classrooms, the doctors
saving lives, the scientists at our computers, the workers on the assembly
lines, the builders on our scaffolds.
We, the mothers blinking back tears as our sons are drafted into the army;
we, the fathers who stay awake at night worried and anxious for our
children's safety. We, Jews and Arabs. We, Israelis and Jordanians. We,
the people, we shape the face of history.
And we, the leaders, hear the voices, and sense the deepest emotions and
feelings of the thousands and the millions, and translate them into
reality.
If my people did not desire peace so strongly, I would not be standing
here today. And I am sure that if the children of Amman, and the soldiers
of Irbid, the women of Saltt and the citizens of Aqaba did not seek peace,
our partner in this great quest, the King of Jordan, would not be here
now, shaking hands, calling for peace.
We bear the responsibility. We have the power to decide. And we dare not
miss this great opportunity. For it is the duty of leaders to bring peace
and well-being to their peoples. We are graced with the privilege of
fulfilling this duty for our peoples. This is our responsibility.
The complex relations between Israel and Jordan have continued for a
generation. Today, so many years later, we carry with us good memories of
the special ties between your country, your Majesty, and mine, and we
carry with us the grim reminders of the times we found ourselves at war.
We remember the days of your grandfather, King Abdallah, who sought
avenues of peace with the heads of the Jewish people and the leaders of
the young State of Israel.
There is much work before us. We face psychological barriers. We face
genuine practical problems. Walls of hostility have been built on the
River Jordan which runs between us. You in Amman, and we in Jerusalem,
must bring down those barriers and walls, must solve those concrete
problems. I am sure that we will do it.
Yesterday we took a giant step towards a peace which will embrace it all:
borders and water, security and economics, trade without boycotts, tourism
and environment, diplomatic relations. We want peace between countries,
but above all, between human beings.
Beyond the ceremonies, after the festivities, we will move on to the
negotiations. They will not be easy. But when they are completed, a
wonderful, common future awaits us. The Middle East, the cradle of the
great monotheistic civilizations - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the
Middle East, which was a valley of the shadow of death, will be a place
where it is a pleasure to live.
We live on the same stretch of land. The same rain nourishes our soil; the
same hot wind parches our fields. We find shade under the same fig tree.
We savor the fruit of the same green vine. We drink from the same well.
Only a 70-minute journey separates these cities Jerusalem and Amman
and 46 years. And just as we have been enemies, so can we be good and
friendly neighbors.
Since it is unprecedented that in this joint meeting two speakers are
invited, allow me to turn to His Majesty.
Your Majesty, We have both seen a lot in our lifetime. We have both seen
too much suffering. What will you leave to your children? What will I
leave to my grandchildren? I have only dreams: to build a better world
a world of understanding and harmony, a world in which it is a joy to
live. This is not asking too much.
The State of Israel thanks you: thanks you for accepting our hand in
peace; for your political wisdom and courage; for planting new hope in our
hearts, in the hearts of your subjects, and the hearts of all peace-loving
people. And I know that you enjoy the highest esteem of the United States
- this great America which is helping the bold to make a peace of the
brave.
From this hall that represents freedom, liberty and democracy, I would
like to thank President Clinton, the former Presidents of the United
States, Secretary of State Christopher, former secretaries of state and
administrations, you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President; and we are more
than thankful to you, distinguished members of the Congress,
representatives of the American people, and to you, the wonderful people
of America.
I do so because no words can express our gratitude to you and to the
American people for your generous support, understanding, and cooperation
which are beyond compare in modern history. Thank you, America. God bless
America.
Tomorrow I shall return to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel
and the heart of the Jewish people. Lining the road to Jerusalem are
rusting hulks of metal burnt-out, silent, cold. They at the remains of
convoys which brought food and medicine to the war-torn and besieged city
of Jerusalem 46 years ago.
For many of Israel's citizens, their story is one of heroism, part of our
national legend. For me and for my comrades-in-arms, every scrap of cold
metal lying there by the wayside is a bitter memory. I remember it as
though it were just yesterday.
I remember them. I was their commander in war. For them this ceremony has
come too late. What endures are their children, their comrades, their
legacy.
Allow me to make a personal note. I, military I.D. number
three-zero-seven-four-three, retired general in the Israel Defense Forces
in the past, consider myself to be a soldier in the army of peace today.
I, who served my country for 27 years as a soldier, I say to you, Your
Majesty, the King of Jordan, and I say to you, American friends:
Today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, no
blood and no anguish. This is the only battle which is a pleasure to wage:
the battle for peace.
Tomorrow, on the way up to Jerusalem, thousands of flowers will cover the
remains of those rusting armored vehicles, the ones that never made it to
the city. Tomorrow, from those silent metal heaps, thousands of flowers
will smile to us with the word peace: "shalom".
In the Bible, our Book of Books, peace is mentioned, in its various
idioms, 237 times. In the Bible, from which we draw our values and our
strength, in the Book of Jeremiah, we find a lamentation for Rachel the
Matriarch. It reads:
"Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears:
for their work shall be rewarded, says the Lord".
I will not refrain from weeping for those who are gone. But on this summer
day in Washington, far from home, we sense that our work will be rewarded,
as the prophet foretold.
The Jewish tradition calls for a blessing on every new tree, every new
fruit, on every new season, Let me conclude with the ancient Jewish
blessing that has been with us in exile, and in Israel, for thousands of
years:
"Blessed are You, 0 Lord, who has preserved us, and sustained us, and
enabled us to reach this time".
God, Bless the Peace.
Thank you.