The third winner of the UNESCO Peace Prize for 1994, named after the late President Felix Houphouet Boigny of the Ivory Coast who died earlier that year, was Yasser Arafat. Both Israeli leaders addressed their remarks to him as well as to those present at the ceremony. They called for peace between ordinary people and not just between authorities. They evoked the need for regional development for the welfare of all those who reside there. Present at the ceremony were the presidents of France, Portugal, the Ivory Coast, and the prime ministers of France, Senegal and Turkey. Discussions with the Prime Minister of Senegal led to the restoration of diplomatic relations on 4 August. While in Paris, Prime Minister Rabin also met with Malaysian officials.
Prime Minister Rabin:
We have come today, from the ends of the earth, the members of many nations, to
honor a legendary man: Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Of all the wise words he gave us, in a life rich with deeds and accomplishments, I have chosen a single: "Let us proceed slowly, for we are in a hurry."
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is summer here in Paris, and we, on a small patch of land in the Middle East, are entering one of the more decisive stages on the way to reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. This is the stage where we end our dreaming. The time has come now to roll up our sleeves.
"Let us proceed slowly," said our friend Houphouet-Boigny, who is sorely missed here today and whose statesmanly wisdom we so thoroughly miss.
And we, indeed, have been proceeding along slowly. For over a hundred years, we have fought over the same strip of land: the country in which we, the sons of Abraham, have been fated to live together. Both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, have known suffering, pain, and bereavement.
Now the fanfares and festivals are over. Now the vapors of euphoria are slowly settling into grains of dust, and the echoes of celebration are being scattered by the hot southern wind. Now that the flags have been folded, the trumpets silenced, the stages dismantled - now, the more difficult, more dangerous part has come. And both sides must calculate their steps slowly, with prudence and care. For a century of hatred does not dissolve suddenly, with a handshake in Washington. All the bloodshed can't be covered by the beating of drums. Peace will be built slowly, day by day, through modest deeds, and countless spontaneous details. It will be built, step by step, by people.
From now on, the making of peace is not a matter for spotlights, for elegant halls, and for ball gowns. From now on, the baking sun in Jericho and Na'ama, in Khan Yunis and Netzer Hazani, will replace the spotlights in Washington, Cairo and Paris. The handshakes on the lawn in Washington, the stage in Cairo, and here in Paris must be repeated by the residents of Gaza and Ashkelon, of Jericho and Ma'ale Adumim. What we have acknowledged here in this beautiful setting in Paris, must be transferred to the markets in Gaza, where Israelis will buy fruit from Palestinian vendors.
Peace will be tasted in the Palestinian coffee poured into the cups of Israeli friends. It will be heard in the applause of Israelis for the performance of a Palestinian theater troupe, and the jeers of the rival soccer fans when Khan Yunis plays against Tel Aviv.
Peace will be seen when an Israeli driver yields the right of way to his Palestinian counterpart - and vice versa; when a Palestinian policeman gives a ticket to an Israeli driver - and the other way around. Peace lies in the grin of an Israeli doctor delivering a Palestinian newborn, and in the smile of a Palestinian lifeguard toward Israeli bathers on the beach.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is peace.
We are going along slowly and cautiously, one step at a time, because the enemies of peace are even more numerous than we imagined. Because extremists on both sides are lying in wait for us, and we - Israelis and Palestinians alike must not fail. At every step we must think, consider, weigh, check and beware.
We are in a hurry because we have waited over a hundred years for this day, in Gaza and Jerusalem, in Jericho and Netanya, in Rafiah and Rosh Pinah.
We are in a hurry to spare another Israeli mother weeping tears of pain and another Palestinian mother from shedding bitter sobs.
We are in a hurry in order to see a light in the eyes of neighbors who, until now, have never seen a single day of freedom and joy. We are hastening in order to hike, drive, tour and enjoy life in every corner of this land.
We are in a hurry so that children can be born into a new world - a world where "hostility" and "war" are just dead words, found only in the dictionary.
We are in a hurry, Ladies and Gentlemen - and therefore we are proceeding slowly. We are moving very carefully. For not all of us will have another chance.
We know very well, as we stand on this stage - my colleague Shimon Peres and I - that you are not recognizing just us, but the entire State of Israel, and its citizens who dream of peace. And we thank you for extending us this great honor.
We thank you, the people of UNESCO, for deciding, after so many years, to examine the truth in our hearts, and grant us this moment of affection.
Our thanks go the judges and to an old friend and man of peace, Professor Henry Kissinger.
Our gratitude goes to the guests who honor us by being here today; the President of the Ivory Coast, the President of France, the President of Portugal, the Prime Minister of France, the Prime Minister of Senegal, the Prime Minister of Turkey. And we with to thank all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for coming here today to pay tribute to peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen, peace is an abstract concept. Prime ministers tend to see the essential things - the "big picture" - and it's said that they don't have time for details. I translate peace into people: men and women, flesh and blood, with names and addresses. Sometimes, when I have to make a decision, there are certain people I think of, and I contemplate their fate.
There was a family in Israel that symbolizes, in our eyes, the bond of generations to the Land of Israel, Jewish moral and cultural values, a return to the soil after two thousand years of exile, security and the dream of peace.
The mother of the family, Rachel Kaplan, was the daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem - the offspring of a family deeply rooted, for generations, between the Western Wall - the walls of the Old City - and the new city of Jerusalem, the City of Peace.
The father, Yisrael, came to the land that had been promised to the Patriarch Abraham, the father of the Jewish People, from exile in Poland. Hundreds of thousands came like him, and after him from seventy countries of dispersion, and set down roots in their ancient home.
Avner was the eldest son of Rachel and Yisrael Kaplan. He chose to settle the land and to work the soil as a way of life as another expression of the Jewish ties to the Land of Israel. Avner Kaplan died in a fire in his house, on Kibbutz Tel Katzir, facing the Golan Heights.
Yossi was the Kaplan's second son. He chose defense as a way of life and served as an outstanding officer in the paratroops. Yossi was killed while in pursuit of terrorists in the Jordan Valley. He entered a cave where a woman was sitting with her baby. A moral man, a humanist whom circumstances had made him into a tough soldier, Yossi believed her when she said that she was alone. But when he turned to leave, he was shot by the man hiding there. That's how Yossi Kaplan died.
Yoni was their third son. He chose university studies and army service. Although he was entitled to be exempt from combat, because of the death of his brothers, he did not waive his right to serve on the front line, the vanguard of attack. Yoni Kaplan was killed in the bitter fighting against the Egyptian Army in the Yom Kippur War.
The mother of this wonderful family, Rachel, was struck down by cancer.
The father Yisrael, died of a broken heart over the loss of his sons, one after the other.
There remains the fourth, last son: Amiram Kaplan.
For your sake, Amiram - for you, for our children and their children, we are moving toward peace. We are proceeding slowly, and we shall hurry to bring it to you. That is our vow to you.
Thank you.
Shalom.
Foreign Minister Peres:
It is truly an honour to have been awarded this Peace Prize named after the great leader and unforgettable friend, Felix Houphouet-Boigny. I would like to thank the jury, and the man who not only made peace but judged it, Henry Kissinger, as well as the President of France, the President of Portugal, and the Prime Ministers of France, Senegal and Turkey - thank you for coming to encourage peace.
Upon concluding his visit to Israel, President Houphouet-Boigny told about a young Israeli of whom he had asked: How is it that the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, which are located on the same longitude and draw their water from the same river, one of them, the Sea of Galilee, is vibrant with life and the other, the Dead Sea, contains death?
The young Israeli thought for a while and then responded: The Sea of Galilee draws its water from the Jordan River and passes it on; Namely a sea that gives and takes. The Dead Sea draws the water and keeps it for itself. A sea that just takes.
The difference between give and take and just take, may become a difference of life and death: The distinction between peace that guarantees life, and war that carries death.
In the absence of peace, neighbours reflect 7 and they, in turn, see in you the source of their agonies: Poverty, barrenness, fear, even destruction. With the advent of peace, your neighbours remain unchanged, but your relations with them can change. You create for yourself, and offer to your neighbour a life of normalcy, a reduction in costs of belligerency, an economy of growth.
Peace is an attempt to map relations, even before mapping borders.
The Oslo Agreement did not draw a permanent map. It mapped a new soul. It created a timetable, an occasion to improve our relations. It promises a climate that may in the future, enable the marking of secure borders.
For us, led by Prime Minister Rabin, and serving together, the agreement reflects a moral choice and a political process.
Morally, we have returned to the values of the history of our people. For almost four millennia the Jewish people never ruled, were never tempted to rule, another people. An inclination to dominate the Palestinian people is not just a violation of Palestinian rights, but a contradiction to the Jewish moral heritage. Whoever chooses peace can not ignore the dictum of Isaiah, 'Never shall a nation lift a sword against another', - a resounding call which has never been surpassed.
Politically, as neighbours we must look to the future. A ticket to the 21st century means an adaptation to a new order. To be strong, you have to refer to the niveau of science, not just to the size of territory, To be well-to-do you will have to refer to the heights of technology, no just to the national resources. To secure your population from missiles and non-conventional arms you have to turn to political options. There are no anti-nuclear weapons.
Air does not have borders. Water overflows boundaries. Information does not stop at curtains - iron or silk, and science and nature are indivisible, they affect all of us.
Therefore national problems must be handled in a wide framework - at least a regional one. Military threats must be met by broad political agreements.
Territorial integrity and political stability depend on democratic processes. Democracy serves as the best barrier against war; democracy guarantees a market economy.
The Oslo Agreement is the first step of an ancient region, full of memories, to come to terms with a new era, full of changes.
When I look at the mountains, I see the peaks from which the great religions sprang. When I look at the valleys, I mourn the tombs of the youngsters who lost their youth I feel that we have to, that we are capable of, providing the newly born with the noble messages that come from the lofty places, and the earthly peace that should succeed war and oppression.
Let me say a personal word. When I was at school, in a youth village on the way to Jerusalem, we had to travel in armoured buses. We had to endure ambushes from behind. Therefore, I devoted most of my life to making Israel strong. All this time the Palestinians represented in our eyes danger, hostility. The Palestinians probably felt the same way about us. It is hard to forget those emotions, and more difficult to divorce them. But I feet that now is a time for a historic divorce. A divorce from war, hatred, suspicion and terror - a divorce from the producers of pain, waste and bereavement.
I feel that now is the time for peace, for a rendez-vous between the Jewish rebirth and the Arab renaissance, between the realities of a Jewish state and the requirements of the Palestinian people.
The meeting place is small and dense. We must enlarge its potentials. Instead of quarreling how to divide shortages, let us work together to create new opportunities, to open a new page in a different era, in an era of science, in a region of peace, a Middle East with the glory of the past and the promise of the future, showing that there are no lost cases, only lost faith.
Our aim is not just to have peace in the Middle East, but to build a peaceful Middle-East.