The prime minister explained why Israel could not talk to the PLO while it was prepared to include Jordan and local Palestinians in the peace process. He hinted that the government of national unity was working on a peace plan on the basis of national consensus and warned against attempts to divide the Jewish people and to separate the diaspora leadership from the elected government of Israel. Text:
Members of the Government, Members of the Knesset, Leaders of the Jewish Communities, My friends, Brothers and Sisters,
Last night - and again this morning - facing this great Assembly of Jewish leaders, I offered up a prayer of gratitude for the capacity, the potential and strength of the Jewish people as we continue our 4000 year forward march.
The fate of our people and our land is in the hands of the Almighty and all those of us who bear the responsibility of leadership. We draw our strength from our roots, from the justice of our cause and from each other. You, my friends, have already given me a great deal of encouragement by your very presence and I hope you will draw courage and inspiration from your contact with us and the Israel reality.
Let me say, right at the beginning, that the number and quality of the participants, already makes this Assembly much more than a Conference - it is a great Happening for Jewish Unity and strength.
We learn from History that when we are divided we are vulnerable. When we are united we are unbeatable and unbreakable.
Last year was a difficult one in our history. We were battling with protracted violence in our land. After the Knesset election we knew that we were approaching a moment of decision on matters vital to our security and future. It became clear to me, as we were negotiating the formation of the coalition government, that the need for unity was imperative.
Ladies and gentlemen, we believe that there are chances of moving the Arab-Israel peace process forward, but to do so we must dispel the perception abroad that the Jewish people is divided; that there is a weakening of the bonds between Israel and the Jewish diaspora; that Israel's image has been tarnished and that Israel's policies are being questioned, even by Jews.
In times of war -or military confrontation every single one of us understands that unity is absolutely vital and disunity can lead to disaster. The need for unity during the stage pf peace negotiations is no less vital, because lack of unity could be no less fateful than defeat on the battlefield. Hence, if one side in a negotiation process is hesitant, divided or fragmented, it will fail to achieve its objectives.
I have no doubt in my mind that, just as we in Israel have succeeded in these present circumstances to set up a government of national unity, there is a crying need for unity among the Jewish people. Unity of hearts, unity of purpose and unity with Israel.
My friends, I stand before you as the elected Prime Minister of the State of Israel, which is the home not only of those who are living here today, but of all Jews. Those of us who have the privilege to live here, regard ourselves as the vanguard of the entire Jewish people, and we are conscious of the fact that we have reached a significant milestone in our History.
It is fifty years after the start of World War Two, which brought devastation to our people. It is fifty years after the notorious British White Paper virtually shut the gates of this country to those who fled before the approaching storm. It is forty years after the renewal of our Independence and our national life in Eretz Israel.
Who would have believed then that half a century later, our very rights in this land would still be questioned; that our people would still be facing threats to their existence and that the U.N. would have on its statutes a resolution that equates Zionism with racism?
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, from this unique platform we must proclaim loud and clear that the return of the Jewish people to this land is an irreversible fact of history. The land is our land from the dawn of history. Here our nation was born. Here our Law was created and our values were nurtured. Here our Kings reigned and our prophets gave their eternal message to mankind. Each corner, rock, and tree has been touched by the hands of our ancestors. Every few weeks fresh evidence is uncovered of our unbroken link with this land for thousands of years, bearing testimony that we have kept faith with our title through all the changes of history. And three times every day, for thousands of years, our dispersed people faced Yerushalayim and repeated the prayer:
"And may our eyes behold your return to Zion in compassion."
In reality, Israel today is stronger than ever before. We have the capacity to defend ourselves and are determined to maintain that capacity. We have considerable achievements in technology and science; we have developed an infrastructure, an industry and institutes of learning that compare favourably with the more advanced nations in the world.
At the same time, however, we are facing problems, risks and challenges that few nations have to contend with.
One of our first problems is the scheme of some of our most dangerous adversaries to divide and weaken the Jewish people and distance it from Israel. This is not conjecture. It is based on the best intelligence. This campaign is being waged at a time when the Arab world is more united in purpose and action against Israel. It also coincides with a legitimate debate within our ranks, a debate that is exaggerated and exploited by so many in the international arena, and which has projected an image of division and weakness.
A second problem is the violence and terror acts carried out by our enemies. We abhor violence, war and human casualties. We do not forgive those who have forced us to engage ourselves and our children in the arts of war rather than in the arts of science, literature, medicine and social progress.
I cannot forget the picture of Mrs. Rachel Weiss, a mother of three small children from Jerusalem, who was burned to death together with her children in a bus last October and of the young soldier, David Delaroza, who died trying to save them.
Throwing petrol bombs and rocks at our people are not acts of protest or civil disobedience. They are another form of war against our nation and our state; a war of attrition designed to wear us down and force us to capitulate to demands that could endanger our security and national survival.
Ironically, the impression is created outside that the Palestinian Arabs are the victims and Israel the aggressor.
A similar, and related, twist of the reality is the impression that our adversaries are trying to create that this is an Israeli-Palestinian conflict and not an Arab-Israel conflict. We have to remind our detractors that we were forced to fight five wars with the armies of the Arab states around us, not with Palestinians. In fact, the Palestinian leaders used to say in 1947 and 1948 that there is no such thing as a Palestinian nation - even the word itself was not Arab -and that Palestine was an integral part of the Arab world.
Until 1967, no one ever raised the demand for a Palestinian homeland on land that was then called the West Bank of Jordan. In the 1970's, when Arafat clashed with King Hussein, both of them used to declare that Palestinians and Jordanians are one nation, that Palestine and Jordan are one homeland.
It is not for us to-decide if our neighbors are Arabs, Palestinians, or Jordanians. But we will not permit these exercises in semantics to be played at our expense and at the expense of our security and future. We will not bow before terror and violence. We will not change our course in the face of a propaganda campaign against us. And we will continue to build and develop and offer coexistence and peace to any neighbor that responds in kind.
The third problem is how to approach the peace-making process and move it forward. We live in a period of a widespread movement to solve international disputes and conflicts by negotiation. This is true especially with regard to the Arab-Israel issue, which has lasted too long and some have already said that the world is sick and tired of it. But we know from experience that there are no quick fixes.
At this point, the PLO has come to the international stage and is saying, in effect: if you want peace, give us a Palestinian state. And to back its demand, it is inciting violence and practising terror. A PLO state would not advance Peace. It would be the OPPOSITE of Peace. It could only produce the Peace of the cemetery.
It would be a tragedy if responsible governments were to support such a demand and it would be fatal for Israel to submit to what, in effect, is an ultimatum. Submitting to violence is bound to trigger even more violence. Such a cycle could end in catastrophe.
Our people do not have to be convinced that peace is the preferred solution. There is barely a family in Israel that has not experienced the pain and grief of casualties that accompanies war. We have paid an enormous price to achieve peace with Egypt. We have not slackened our search for more partners to peace, Arab partners whose willingness and yearning for peace with us is even remotely close to ours. We shall continue this quest unabated, because it is part of our nature and tradition, as the psalmist said - "Seek peace and pursue it."
In this situation, it is fortunate that we have a Government of National Unity which encompasses the two main political blocs. We will go to the negotiating table on the basis of an agreed consensus. It gives strength and support for the testing period ahead of us. But, we need Am Yisrael with us; backing us with all your power. We need the unity and solidarity of all our people. We need the word to go out from here to the capitals of the world that the Jewish people is not divided, the Jewish people is not weakened, the Jewish people is responding to Israel's call and will face the future together with Israel.
Finally, let us touch on some developments in the Jewish people at large. Our first concern is for the communities in distress. Israel cannot, and shall not, remain passive as long as there are Jews in Iran, in Syria, in North Yemen, in Ethiopia and in other lands who are suffering, or exposed to discrimination, or who are denied freedom of movement and emigration because they are Jews. We are doing what we can in regard to these painful issues, together with other governments and private agencies. We are acting on behalf of the Jewish people, as we consider ourselves responsible for, and representative of, every persecuted Jew, wherever he may be. I would like you to join me in issuing a call to enlightened nations and international organizations to use their influence on such governments to desist, from depriving Jews of their rights.
Our struggle for, and on behalf of, Soviet Jewry is a classic example of what the Jewish people is capable of doing. We have achieved much and we are deeply distressed that, at this time, most of those who leave the Soviet Union with Israel visas in fact proceed to the United States and other countries. This is a contradiction of the essence of our struggle. We never fought in order to move Jews from one Diaspora to another. Our goal was - and remains -Shivat Zion, the Return to Zion which is in the best interest of the emigrant himself and his children and is essential for our people.
In conclusion, I appeal to you to open your hearts and minds and join us in broadcasting I 'a message to the people of Israel, to the Jewish people everywhere and to the international community. The essence of this message is simply this: "Am Yisrael Hai. Our people are alive, our people are together, our people are concerned, our people are responding to the call of Israel and they stand together with Israel, now and in the future."
We are united in supporting Israel's determined search for peace with security. We are united in rejecting any attempt to coerce Israel by violence, terror and outside pressure. The people of Israel are reaching out to their Jewish brethren in the Diaspora in brotherhood and solidarity.
We are elated by your presence in Yerushalayim amongst us. We want to see you, your families and your communities with us again and again. We want you to experience with us the rebuilding of our homeland, and the exciting aspects of the ingathering of the exiles and the achievements of our people. And we look forward, with great faith and optimism to the fulfillment of the generation-old dream of our prophet Yehezkel:
"For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all
countries, and I will bring you into your own land. ... And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; I will also cause the cities to be inhabited and the wastes shall be rebuilt. And the desolate land shall be tilled - And so shall it be."