The Conference on Solidarity of the Jewish People with Jerusalem was the culmination of the celebrations which started in 1992 to mark the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War. Representatives from scores of Jewish communities throughout the world gathered in Jerusalem, the common identity card for all Jews. On the eve of the closing of the conference, delegates were addressed by the prime minister. Text:
Sons of the Jewish People Representatives of Jewish Communities Citizens of Israel Citizens of Jerusalem Delegates of all Creeds,
Tomorrow, or the day after, you will be leaving to return to your countries, to your homes, to your families - but we all know that each and every one of you will be leaving your hearts and your love behind, among us, in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the common identity card of all Jews, which he always carries with him, throughout his life-time, and wherever he may be, he always remains a part of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the city of mercy for a people which received no mercy - a people forced into exile which lost millions of its sons in the Diaspora; a people that sees before them at night pictures of children with their arms raised in the Ghetto of Warsaw; a people for whom the stones of the Kotel became an object of yearning, the cement and glue of all Jews, in all generations, and in the words of the famous poet Yehudah Halevi: "My heart is in the East, and I find myself deep in the West."
Your attendance here tonight is a vibrant demonstration of the solidarity of the Jewish people with its living heart Jerusalem, the city that experienced years of yearning and suffering, to which Jews turn - in every place and at any time, in prayer: "To Jerusalem your city, for thou shalt return in mercy." From Jerusalem of Gold, Copper and Light, we salute today our guests who came from seventy places and communities throughout the world. May you be blessed. This will always be your home, in joy and in troubled times.
I was born in Jerusalem. I fought in Jerusalem. Even today, I still see in my mind its Jewish citizens during the War of Independence, starving and pumping water from water holes. I have seen the rows of fallen, our exposed soldiers in the convoys, the burning trucks. Night after night we buried our dead and we went back to the battlefields from which many of our comrades did not return. Forty-five years ago we broke the siege of Jerusalem, but the Old City was wrenched from us.
Twenty-six years ago the Six-Day War completed the cycle. We came back to the Kotel, to the empty old souk, to the water holes. We came back, never to leave it again.
However, it is our duty, as Jews, as Israelis, as human beings to honor other creeds for whom Jerusalem is an important part of their lives and beliefs. We want to ensure freedom of religion, to be tolerant to all those who enter its gates, to all its holy places. From here, from the eternal capital of the Jewish people we say today: Forever ours, undivided. From the City of Peace we call tonight to all the people in the world for peace, and we reiterate our ancient oath: "If
forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither."
The poetess once said: "I am in Jerusalem, still I long for Jerusalem." While you are still here, even before you return to your respective countries, I am convinced that you already long for Jerusalem.