President Herzog travelled from Strassbourg to Brussels, where he responded to a toast offered by the prime minister of Belgium. After describing his own personal experiences as an officer in the British army during World War II in Belgium, he spoke about Israel's peace efforts. He sought the help of Belgium in insuring that Israel's agricultural exports to the countries of the EEC, be protected after the EEC signs an agreement giving Associate Membership to Spain and Portugal, that could endanger Israeli food exports. Text:
Your Excellencies,
I rise to thank you Mr. Prime Minister, for the special welcome accorded my wife and myself in the course of my visit to the European Parliament and, in particular, by Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians, by you, sir and by members of your Government.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, it was my privilege to serve as an officer in the British Forces, which participated in the liberation of Western Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany, including the liberation of this great country. The memories of those heroic days are indelibly imprinted in my memory. For you these are the great memories of liberation followed by a gigantic task of reconstruction. We, the Jewish People, had yet before us the struggle to bring our oppressed brothers and sisters to the Promised Land, in a saga which will go down in history.
The world community, conscious of the devastating injustice which had been done to the Jewish People and conscious of the historic rights of the Jewish People in Palestine as recognized by the British Government's Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate, decided in 1947 in the United Nations to partition Palestine, creating a Jewish and an Arab State. We, the Jewish People, accepted the Partiton Resolution. The Arab countries, led by an intransigent leadership, which has brought tragedy over the years on the Palestinian people, rejected the resolution and any idea of compromise, as, indeed, they have done all along. Seven Arab armies invaded Palestine in an endeavour to strangle the infant State at birth. We, a small population of 600,000, fought back desperately sacrificing I% of our total population in the process.
We emerged from the historic struggle to our independence and proceeded to build our homeland, holding out in our Declaration of Independence, and subsequently throughout the years, our hand to our Arab neighbours in a quest for peace.
Our two countries have many things in common. We are both dedicated to the principles of democracy - in this respect we are members of a very exclusive minority amongst the nations of the world. We are, unfortunately, the only parliamentary democracy in our area. We both embarked on reconstruction after the years of suffering brought on by the Nazi scourge. We are both countries with multi-racial and bi-lingual societies. In both cases two great peoples with impressive histories are destined to live together.
We, in Israel, are proud of yet another link between our people and the people of Belgium, namely, the great Jewish community which has contributed so much to the culture and welfare of Belgium and also to the great Jewish cultural tradition, which is of such universal significance.
As I stood the other day and addressed the European Parliament, I was conscious not only of the intrinsic importance of the Parliament, but also of the significance of that body. Indeed, it has a profound significance for those of us who come from the Middle East, because here, despite all the problems involved, great nations which were divided for centuries by war, attrition, conflict and hatred, are joined together in what must represent a new and noble adventure in the history of mankind. Above all it represents a landmark and a lesson for the nations of the world in general and for the strife torn area from where I come, in particular.
You here represent much for one from Israel. You represent what is perhaps the most important of all between nations - dialogue. You represent an attempt to stress the unifying and to resolve the divisive. With all the growing pains which a new Community such as the European Community must endure, you represent a brave and noble example to the world. And as I stand here I cannot but offer a silent prayer that one day we will be privileged to have such an institution in which the representatives of the countries in the Middle East will meet to discuss their problems in free and open debate and not, as in so many instances now, in hostile and menacing diatribe.
In our country two great nations live side by side, for I am President of a country 17% of whose population are Arabs and Druze. Given the problems which we have faced over the past 37 years and the fact that most Arab countries continue to maintain a state of war with Israel, the condition of our Arab population, which is a loyal and integral part of our society, is perhaps the greatest tribute to our free and democratic society. Our Arab and Druze citizens are an important element in the political life of our country, participating as they do within their own ethnic frameworks, or within the general party framework in the country. Those who visited Israel have met their representatives in the Knesset. We can boast the only free Arab press in the Middle East, published both by the Arabs of Israel and by the Arabs residing in the territories administered by Israel. Ours is the only society in the whole Middle East in which an Arab who feels that he is being politically wronged, may turn to the courts of the land - and does so. The Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem, received more votes from the Arab population in East Jerusalem, in the last municipal elections than any Arab Mayor ever received in the city.
As I look at the societies which are obsessed so much with decrying Israel, I do so with a feeling of intense pride in the people of Israel, which I represent here before you Jewish, Arab and Druze. I am not saying that there are no problems in our society and that the relations between the two peoples in our country have no room for improvement. I suspect that this is true of other multi-racial societies too. But the impression as reflected outside Israel of a black and white confrontation between two peoples, is utterly false. The shades of grey in the picture far outweight the extreme's of black and white.
It is no coincidence that Belgium has been the prime mover in the creation of the European Community and that Brussels is its capital. For Belgium, small as it is, is rich in the experience of a common life between people that draw on different cultural heritages and which has succeeded, despite all the difficulties, in building a nation.
We, too, have succeeded in creating a nation out of a melting pot of different backgrounds; all this despite economic and social problems and, unfortunately, continued hostility on the part of some of our neighbours. But we have and are succeeding in forging a nation out of varied elements and backgrounds. Only recently has the world become aware of the return to us after 2600 years of absence, of Ethiopian Jewry, which is now being absorbed in our society.
Our desire for peace is based on our Jewish faith and people. For the past 37 years we have been urging our neighbours to sit down and negotiate with us. The process has been a slow one but today our relations with Egypt are based on a Peace Treaty with open borders and diplomatic relations. Daily a bus leaves Tel-Aviv for Cairo and vice versa. A million people cross the Jordan River in both directions every year with tens of millions of dollars worth of trade. Thousands cross from Lebanon every day to work in Israel. In other words, viewed in historic perspective, the advance has been enormous and I am certain that this process will continue. I am convinced that most of these problems will be solved if and when the Arab nations will accept our invitation to sit down and negotiate without pre-conditions. Only recently our Prime Minister, Mr. Peres, issued a new invitation to King Hussein and to the Palestinian Arab leadership in the territories administered by Israel - and this at a time when Israelis and Egyptians are negotiating outstanding points of differences alternatively in Beer Sheba and in Ismailia.
Despite all the problems that we face - and they are many - we have succeeded in building and maintaining an open democratic society in which the dignity of man is enshrined as a supreme value. We have a free and independent judiciary and a democratically elected Parliament, a free press, Jewish and Arab and a system of universal education. We have created one of the most highly developed systems of agriculture in the world and, as you are doubtless aware, agricultural products constitute a major export today from Israel to Europe. But this export is threatened. The European Community had in the past recognized its own traditional association with the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, an association which historically was so important to the cultures of all our people. It gave expression to this community of interest in the association agreements which we had so laboriously reached. The negotiations of the Community with Spain and Portugal, as no remedial arrangements have been reached with my country, are threatening not only our agricultural exports to the countries of Europe, but are virtually threatening the social and economic basis of Israel's all important agricultural sector, which represents not only the livelihood, but also the dreams of generations.
I appeal to you - and through you to the countries of the EEC, not to close your eyes to a problem which, if not tackled, could turn into a tragedy for a people which is beset by so many problems.
We look to Belgium for understanding and support, both in the field of our bilateral relations and in the exercise of Belgian influence in our favour in the deliberations on future associations in the Community.
Like all free countries, we have our short-comings and know our failings, but as a very vibrant, multi-racial society, we are conscious of continuous effort to overcome them. No society is without its weaknesses, but every society must be judged by the freedom of its citizens to deal with such inadequacies.
I ask you, is it not imperative that we, the very privileged minority of nations dedicated to human dignity, justice, freedom and democracy should join forces and support one another in the spirit of Belgium's motto: "Eendracht maakt macht; Union fait la force".
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is in the spirit of the friendship which characterises the relations between our two countries that I reiterate my appreciation of your generous hospitality and I invite you to join me in a toast to their Majesties, the King and Queen and the prosperity of the Belgian people.