May 28, 1995
PM RABIN REMARKS AT CABINET MEETING
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)
The following is a transcript of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting, today (Sunday), 28.5.95, prior to the presentation of a Cabinet resolution on Jerusalem:
Good morning, Members of the Cabinet, Mayor of Jerusalem.
Today is the 28th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification during the Six-Day War. The government of Levi Eshkol decided, in July 1967, to extend Israeli law to united Jerusalem.
In 1988, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law. All governments of Israel, including the present government, have been fully confident that what was determined in 1967, what was legislated in 1988 transforming Jerusalem into a unified city under Israeli sovereignty, the capital of Israel, the heart of the Jewish people these are facts that will endure for eternity.
All governments of Israel have taken upon themselves the commitment to respect the sanctity of Jerusalem, for other religions as well, and all governments of Israel have preserved and this government will continue to preserve freedom of religion, and freedom of access for members of other religions to their holy sites.
The government's effort is, obviously, to maintain a set of relations for the development of Jerusalem I refer to united Jerusalem, in accordance with the decisions of the government and the Knesset for the benefit of all the city's residents. I think that, alongside the great accomplishment of the IDF fighters in two wars the War of Independence and the Six-Day War who determined Jerusalem's fate, its reunification and its status as the capital of Israel, it is our obligation to continue building Jerusalem for the good of all its residents.
We are the sovereign, we are the official rulers in united Jerusalem and as a Jewish state, we must also be tolerant, and we must also ensure the civil rights of all people living in united Jerusalem.
Next year, we will celebrate the 3000th anniversary of Jerusalem's establishment. These celebrations relate to Jerusalem's past and, above all for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, to Jerusalem's reunification but without ignoring the fact of its sanctity and of its status as a very important city also for members of other religions, and for its non-Jewish residents.