OPENING REMARKS BY DR. FAYEZ TARAWNEH
HEAD OF THE JORDANIAN DELEGATION TO THE ISRAEL-JORDAN PEACE TALKS
THE DEAD SEA
August 9, 1994
Ambassador Rubinstein, distinguished delegates,
Never in the previous days or decades have fiction and reality come so
close to each other. The feelings that have paralleled them over the past
two weeks have been both unique and exciting. We owe a great deal to the
wisdom and courage of His Majesty King Hussein, and we feel in that to the
positive and immediate response of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Both have
made possible the merging of fiction and reality in recent days. Thanks
are due as much to them as they are to the President of the United States
of America, President Bill Clinton.
In Washington, a Declaration was heard on the 25th of July, and was
simultaneoulsy endorsed and signed by His Majesty the King and by the
Prime Minister of Israel. The entire world is a witness to the commitments
expressed therein. President Clinton attested the Declaration with his own
signature. History has been, since then, in the making.
Each day qualifies to be a separate chapter in the Middle East both to
you and your colleagues, Mr. Ambassador, and to my colleagues and myself,
and to the whole world. The events of the past days, two weeks, are so
vivid in our memories: from the trilateral committee meeting that we
hosted on our shore of the Dead Sea, to the Washington Declaration , to
the safe return of His Majesty King Hussein to Amman through his
overflight of the holy city and the Israeli airspace, and to the
spectacular events of yesterday, which we all were very lucky to witness.
And finally to the meeting of today, marking the first of several that we
all will hold on Israeli soil, with equal frequency of similar meetings on
Jordanian soil.
It is indeed an era of merging of the extremes. We live today a state of
ending the state of war that had prevailed for 46 years, two weeks ago. We
are meeting today on the premise of the Dead Sea, whose first input to
being, namely water, was being supplied from across our common boundary,
and in which many Jordanians in the 1940's saw a chance of livelihood and
a future. We all know what became of their expectations.
But our expectations, your and ours, of the '90's, triggered by the events
of recent days, should never be allowed to have similar ending. In fact,
they have faced our two delegations with unprecedented challenge: that of
living up to the anticipations of our two peoples and to their
aspirations, which we know are peace, peace and peace.
Nothing we value more, my colleagues and I, than achieving that noble
goal. Nothing would please me more than working with you, Ambassador, to
remove the obstacles taht are obstructing our way to get there. And
nothing would be more worth celebrating than the occasion when we deliver
to our peoples, via our historic leaders, what they have always dreamt of.
What we have witnessed in recent days and yesterday, feels like the coming
of spring. When spring comes, can fruits be far behind?
Thank you very much.