Prime Minsiter Begin used the opportunity to explain in detail the position of Israel on the various items that separate it from the Egyptian position, chief among them Jerusalem, the Palestinian issue and the subject of self-determination, In his reply, Foreign Minister Kamel of Egypt refused to be drawn into a discussion and pointed to his opening remarks at the talks. Secretary Vance noted with satisfaction the opening of the talks as a major step forward. Text:
Mr. Begin: I have decided tonight in the presence of three Foreign Ministers to disclose a State Secret concerning the relations between Egypt and Israel. Before I do so I appeal to the press crew which is quite well represented tonight to report my statement as accurately as they can. Every word counts. Responsibility is great, let us share it. Now I am going to divulge the secret.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Egypt and Israel have differences of opinion, and with the knowledge of the existence of the differences we work hard to overcome the difficulties, reach an agreement and in God's good time sign peace treaties. Our dear and honoured guest, the Foreign Minister of Egypt, told us upon arrival on which circumstances peace cannot be established. I will not repeat his speech. I will only say that if I followed suit and used the negative term, then I would say on behalf of Israel that peace cannot be established should Israel restore or agree to restore the fragile breakable aggression-provoking and bloodshed-causing lines preceding the 5th of June 1967. And to this there is almost an absolute national consensus in this country. For peace cannot be established with the redivision of Jerusalem, the Capital City not only of the State of Israel but traditionally and culturally of the Jewish People since the days of King David. And why should it be redivisioned? London and Paris are one city, Moscow and Washington are one city, Cairo and Damascus are one city, can anybody envisage barbed wire dividing this city? Just impossible. Inconceivable. However, I prefer the positive relations to the negative and therefore I will say under what circumstances peace is reachable and will be established. Peace will be reached, established when we respect mutually our principles, and although we have the feeling of urgency, we also have patience. There will be peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Permit me to dwell on the one thesis and to sing the praise of a great concept given to us by one of the greatest minds ever born in humanity that was the concept is of self-determination. Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the right of selfdetermination to the world. Near the end of the First World War and on the basis of that right a committee dealing with this issue concerning the Middle East reported to the effect. I quote: It is just that Palestine should become a Jewish State, all nations subjugated, enslaved, oppressed, base their struggle for liberation on that concept of Woodrow Wilson. We too, because in those days every intelligent woman and man understood that the right of self-determination of the Jewish dispersed, persecuted, humiliated, ultimately physically destroyed Jewish People is returning to the Land of their forefathers and re-establishing or
Now may I say, Ladies and Gentlemen, that I sing the praise of self-determination in relation to the great Arab people.
I learnt from my master and teacher Ze'ev Jabotinsky to have deep respect for the great Arab people and to pay tribute to their invaluable contribution to human civilization, especially during the time when our own eagle, the Rambam, wrote his most important books in Arabic, out of respect for the great Arab people we not only recognize, we rejoice in the expression of their right for self-determination. They have self-determination expressed in the existence of 21 sovereign Arab states, whereas they lived in the '20s - certainly earlier - in subjugation to foreign rules since the time of the Turkish rule and later under the British, under the French, under the Italians. We do not begrudge them that wonderful, perhaps unprecedented, use of the right to self-determination, in an area stretching from the Persian Gulf up to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, 12 million square kilometres, 21 sovereign, Arab states.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister is a young man, but the Foreign Secretary and I belong to the same generation -excuse me - and our generation, Mr. Secretary, remembers that wonderful concept of self-determination was misused in the '30s. In the late '30s as the result of the misuse of that concept disaster was brought on Europe, upon the world, which extricated itself from their disaster almost miraculously. And therefore out of deep respect for the great Arab people and rejoicing and not begrudging their right of self-determination, may I state that never again (will) that concept be misused because we'll remember the '30s, the late '30s and the result of that misuse.
Mr. Foreign Minister. When you go back home soon - and then come back soon, we would like your presence in Jerusalem (Ezer likes his presence in Cairo from time to time) - convey to the President our respect and our friendship. You should know that the people of Israel, our democratic Parliament which you saw today, in action, and the Government, have deep respect and friendship for your President, and appreciate his decision, his historic decision to come to Jerusalem. We of course received him as I promised in my letter to him with respect and cordiality and he felt it. Those members of the Egyptian delegation who followed and accompanied President Sadat will bear me out that the reception was respectful and cordial as befits that hospitality which our peoples inherited from our common Father, Old Abraham. So convey this message of respect, friendship and good will.
Mr. Secretary. We meet quite often, either in Jerusalem or in Washington. May I express our gratitude to you and to Ambassador Lewis for your contribution to have an agreed-upon agenda for the two Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Israel. The French call an agenda "Ordre du Jour," which in English translation means the order of the day, but in order to have an agreed order of the day, we lost a night. We spoke on the phone with Sam since 2:30 in the morning and little sleep we had that night but it was worthwhile. We thank you for the American contribution to that initial agreement which is very important, and please Mr. Secretary convey to the great friend of Egypt and of Israel our thanks.
Now Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an evening of friendship, of understanding, of goodwill, may I say it is no secret that we have differences of opinion. We have, as anyone of you who studies history we do not know that all negotiations to establish peace and to sign Peace Treaties after war started from differences of opinion. Ultimately an agreement was reached and peace was established, so I do believe this is going to be the case with the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I raise my glass to peace between the great Arab people and the State of Israel, to cooperation between the great Egyptian people and the people of Israel, to the traditional lasting, ever-lasting friendship between the United States and the State of Israel - and with God's help we will leave the blessings of peace to our children and children's children. Lechaim.
The Foreign Minister of Egypt:
Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank our host, the Prime Minister of Israel for his invitation and for the hospitality which was extended to us.
I thought after having, since the first day of the Political Committee meeting, that we were going to have a sort of relaxed and social event tonight, but the Prime Minister chose to bring words again on the subject of negotiation to this evening. I can only repeat that we believe that the basic elements of peace, of a positive peace, of a lasting peace, of a just peace is the element I stated very clearly this morning in my speech in the opening session of the political committee. As to the Prime Minister's views, well I think the place to discuss it is in the coming meeting which will start from tomorrow, in the meeting of the committee and I will keep my ideas to this meeting. Thank you very much Mr. Prime Minister, for your hospitality and for your greetings.
Mr. Begin:
Thank you, my dear colleague and guest, Foreign Minister of Egypt, and now the discussion will be wound up by the Secretary of state.
Secretary Vance:
Your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Begin, Your Excellency Foreign Minister Kamal, Your Excellency Foreign Minister Dayan and Mrs. Dayan, distinguished guests, this is my fifth visit to this beautiful and historic city in the period of just one year that I have been the Secretary of State. This visit is a very special one. What makes it special is that today the Foreign Ministers of Israel and Egypt have begun the process of serious direct substantive negotiations, and all of us have a sense of the importance of this day and of this moment.
The meetings which we began today will have to deal with many difficult and serious issues which will affect the national interest of all parties. We have before us an historic opportunity for peace and we know this opportunity must be seized or it may slip from our grasp. But we must ever keep in mind that no truly important problem is ever solved without perseverance, hard work and flexibility on both sides. I'm sure that in the work which began today we will have times of success and moments of difficulties. We must build on the momentum which has been created and not allow moments of difficulty to discourage us. We must keep constantly in front of us the goal which all of us see namely a just and lasting peace.
Let me conclude with a very brief personal observation. The direct contacts that are now taking place offer the opportunity for a new dimension that has been absent in all past efforts to resolve this conflict. I refer to the opportunity to listen, and to make a genuine effort to understand the perceptions and the points of view of others. The importance of this new dimension should not be underestimated.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask you to raise your glasses to the two great leaders to whose statesmanship we owe our presence here this evening, Prime Minister Begin and President Sadat. Let us take inspiration from their courage, their vision and dedicate ourselves to the task that they have put in our hands.