213 Remarks by President Clinton- King Hussein and Prime Minister Rabin in an Exchange of Toasts at the White House- 25 July 1994

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Your Majesties, Prime Minister and Mrs. Rabin, all our distinguished guests: Welcome to the White House. Today we have seen history in the making. And tonight, we celebrate this marvelous occasion with King Hussein and Prime Minister Rabin, and to all of you who for so long have supported their efforts for peace.

It's a special pleasure for Hillary and for me to welcome Queen Noor and Mrs. Rabin who, in their devotion to the health and the well-being of the children of their nations prove that the quest for peace is not the only cause that knows no borders.

Today's signing of the Washington Declaration is the handiwork of many. But it is safe to say we would not be here tonight were it not for the persistent and farsighted efforts of Crown Prince Hassan, Foreign Minister Peres, and our Secretary of State, Warren Christopher.

I want to express my special gratitude to Secretary Christopher who has brought such great energy and devotion to this task, and to applaud all three gentlemen for their efforts.

The Washington Declaration is a blueprint, both inspiring and practical. A foundation for lasting peace between two peoples who have been divided for too long. It is also clearly a personal tribute to two brave leaders, both called upon at a young age to shoulder enormous responsibilities - one to be a king, the other a defender of his people - brought together now at long last in the common cause of peace.

King Hussein, tonight we recall the legacy of your grandfather and mentor, King Abdullah, a man who dreamed that one day on both sides of the River Jordan, Arab and Jew could live together in peace, and who lost his life for that dream of peace. At the age of 17, when most of us were still in school, you were left to shoulder the great weight of leading your people.

In the 42 years that have passed, you have led your kingdom through the stormy waters of the Middle East, you have improved the lives of your people and endowed your nation with a spirit of tolerance, civility and compromise. You've built bridges between the Arab world and the United States through your actions as an advocate for stability and through your marriage to the Queen, herself a daughter of Americans who came from the Arab world. For that, we, Sir, are in your debt.

And today, you have moved to erase the divisions between the people of the two sides of the River Jordan. Tonight, it can truly be said that you have fulfilled the legacy of King Abdullah.

Mr. Prime Minister, tonight we honor you, a son of the land of Israel. Your parents, Nehemya and Rosa, were among the first pioneers who came to Palestine. And like so many others of their generation, they devoted their lives to building a national home for the Jewish people.

Schooled in the science of agriculture, you once planned to devote your life to making the fields and deserts of Israel come alive. But at the age of 19, you answered the call to join the Palmach, destined to spend your life fighting to establish and defend the nation of Israel.

Now, after a life consumed by war, you have become the architect of a great peace. Building a homeland your parents could only imagine. A peaceful, prosperous land at harmony with its neighbors. A land where a new generation will be free to cast aside its weapons and fulfill your dream to make the valleys and deserts bloom. Tonight, we honor you and the fulfillment of your legacy, Sir.

These two men have crossed much hostile territory so that their children and their children's children need fight no more. They have earned this peace, and we are all in their debt.

(A toast is offered.)

KING HUSSEIN: President Clinton, Prime Minister Rabin. Sir, your words have touched us deeply. And today has been indeed a unique day - for myself, for the people of Jordan, for the prime minister and the people of Israel, for all those who have yearned for the breaking of a new dawn in our region, where energies and resources and talents can together have an opportunity to flourish, can together build a better future, which is the right of all.

The reports from Jordan are what I had expected them to be, those of joy and hope for the overwhelming majority of our people. I understand in Israel it is the same.

To a very large extent, Sir, none of this would have been possible without your help, without the help of our friends in the United States. And I speak of friendship that has grown over many, many, years - friendship of which we are proud and a partnership between us all in the cause of peace and a better future for our people, for our region and for the world.

I've felt over the recent past that many of us in our part of the world, both in Israel and in Jordan, had to begin the inevitable readjustment, psychologically, after so many years of denial of our right to live normally together, to build and to move ahead. And as I have said before, unfortunately, the abnormal became normal, which is indeed a tragic state of affairs.

I hope that in signing the Washington Declaration, where the prime minister and I can help shepherd the process ahead, to achieve not only peace between our two countries and our two peoples, but to create the rebirth of hope and confidence in our people in terms of our credibility and our commitment. Ours is total, before you all, and I believe that why well succeed in Jordan is not because of my own feelings alone, but because, as in Israel, we have a democracy in Jordan. We have a people who share with us in shaping our future. Democracy, pluralism, respect for human rights is a path that we have taken, and we hope that we will influence others by example through our continuing along this road.

So it's not a case of an individual or a small group of people. What we have achieved today, Sir, is something that we leave for all our peoples to protect and to cherish in the times ahead.

For Noor and 1, and for all my colleagues from Jordan, we thank you, Mr. President, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, and our dear friends for the warmth of your welcome, for your support and for your friendship. We need you with us in the times ahead. We need you with us not only as old friends, but as partners in shaping a better future for our entire region.

Prime Minister, it's been a great pleasure, and I am sure that tired as you might be after years and years of a search for this day, this beginning, we'll go back to our region with renewed vigor and energy and determination to achieve beyond this point all the dreams and hopes of our people.

Thank you very, very much, indeed. And, please, join me - in a toast to the President of the United States, to peace and friendship between us for all times.

(A toast is offered.)

PRIME MINISTER RABIN: The President of the United States, Your Majesty, distinguished guests: the American side, the Jordanian side, the Israeli side - when I had to think for what I will toast after such a moving, exciting day, many memories came up in my mind.

For me, Mr. President, Your Majesty, the Washington Declaration between Jordan and Israel symbolizes much more than the overall Arab-Israeli conflict. It's true that for a long time we had to face in certain areas - we continue to face the rejection, the objection to the existence of Israel as a Jewish, viable, independent state. And we have seen all through our efforts to bring about peace, to find a solution, two main obstacles. One of them is the psychological obstacle, the wall which is built on prejudices on both sides, animosity, bloodshed, on many occasions without any justification. But it looks that the practical issues have been magnified, have been seen by both sides as much more complicated, bigger, more difficult, because of the psychological wall.

And the first and the foremost responsibilities of the leaders of the countries of the region, in their aspiration to solve the conflict, to build the structure of peace, to create cooperation and understanding, the main and the foremost responsibility is to tackle, to bring down the walls of psychology that put apart, put aside, create barriers between peoples because leaders can bring peoples, countries to sign peace; but the real peace is between peoples on both sides.

The only peace that I will consider to be a peace is the peace that the average citizen in the street will sense, will realize that something has been changed, that there are different interrelationships, there is no more fear, no more threat or use of violence in whatever form. Coping with these psychological walls is the most important task of whoever tries to bring about a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in all its sectors.

For me, today was a unique day, and III be frank. I started in the War of Independence in Jerusalem against the Jordanians. It was the first war that I waged, I was engaged in. I always respected Jordan, and the king of Jordan, King Hussein, as the most noble, reasonable, unique personality, even when we were not at peace, even when we were engaged in conflict.

I don't believe that there is in the Arab world a leader who in his long term of being the leader of his country, shaped, changed and brought to his people, to his government, values, and a way of life. And, therefore, on many occasions in the past, I dreamt, I believed, that a peace with Jordan be the first.

I will not disclose secrets of twenty, twenty-one years ago. I believe that His Majesty understands what I mean. But today, when we stood together at your invitation, President of the United States, and we shook hands and signed a declaration, in a way to me, personally, a circle of my life reached a certain point. I was born in Jerusalem. I am the first and the only prime minister of Israel that was born there. I had to fight for Jerusalem. But I believe that the values of Jerusalem - for Jews, for Moslems, for Christians - carry with them certain responsibilities that Your Majesty and I have to carry and to shoulder ourselves.

I remember the end of the '48-'49 war. We believed then in peace. We hoped that that war would end it. It took too long - too long, if I may say - I am only prime minister, you are the king, here is the president. (Laughter.) I believe the two of us have seen hopes that faded, tragedy that took place, and now we are on the verge, opening a new chapter - I believe not only to the Jordanian people and to the Israeli people - I believe that the relations between Jordan and Israel can serve as a symbol and an example to others.

I would like, Mr. President, to thank you. Through your efforts, through the efforts of your administration, the secretary of state working with our foreign minister, because I believe, as you once said, Mr. President, you said it vis-it-vis Israel; I believe it has to be said to every country in the Middle East, that without taking risks, without making compromise, we will not achieve peace.

But you have to bear in mind, Mr. President, as you know, that the result of any agreement, when it is signed, has to be translated to the life of the peoples and the countries that signed it. They have to realize that a change has taken place, that lives are safer, that their life is improved educationally, economically, socially. The United States played in the modern history a unique role since the end of the Second World War in encouraging peace and stability in the world. You have played the same role in every agreement that was reached between an Arab country, Arab people and Israel. And believe me, Mr. President and my other American friends, by beautiful words alone, realities are not changed.

The dream, the desire, the courage to carry them out is important. But sometimes, they have to be nourished, assisted, in a way that the countries and the peoples will realize the meaning of peace, not by the beautiful words, but by the change of their life, that peace brought something new to them.

We, today, made another major step towards peace. I always admired and trusted His Majesty King Hussein. And I believe his signature, when he signs, he means it. And together, Jordan, Israel and the United States, under your leadership and during your term, Mr. President, we are for the second time here to pay our respects to efforts that brought a change in the Middle East.

If we will continue to work together, I believe that well see more steps in your term and in my term - (laughter) -which, by the way, may have to be ended, if we'll not be reelected, and hopefully we will be - (laughter) - in November '96. It's a lot of time. Much can be done. And if I raise my toast, I will raise it to those who have the courage to change axioms, to overcome prejudices to change realities, and those who make them possible. To you, Your Majesty, to you, President Clinton, to all those who believe and support and are ready to assist in the continuation of peace in the region. L'Chaim.