[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY YITZHAK RABIN, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL

  PRIME MINISTER RABIN. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, distinguished 
Members of the Congress, His Majesty, the King of Jordan, I start with 
the Jewish word ``Shalom.''
  Each year, on Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars, I go to 
the cemetery of Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Facing me are the graves, 
headstones, the colorful flowers blooming on them, and thousands of 
pairs of weeping eyes. I stand there, in front of that large silent 
crowd, and read in their eyes the words of, ``The Young Dead 
Soldiers,'' as the famous American poet, Archibald MacLeish, entitled 
the poem from which I take these lines:

They say:
Whether our lives and our deaths
were for peace and a new hope,
or for nothing,
we cannot say;
it is you who must say this.

  Mr. Speaker, we have come from Jerusalem to Washington because it is 
we who must say, and we are here to say:
  Peace is our goal. It is peace we desire.
  With me here in this House today are my partners in this great dream, 
and allow me to refer to some Israelis that are with me, here with you: 
Amiram Kaplan, whose first brother was killed in an accident, whose 
second brother was killed in pursuit of terrorists, whose third brother 
was killed in war, and whose parents died of heartbreak. And today he 
is a seeker of peace.
  Moshe Sasson, who, together with his father, was an emissary to the 
talks with King Abdallah and to other missions of peace. Today he is 
also an emissary of peace.
  With me, a classmate of mine from the elementary school Chana Rivlin 
of Kibbutz Gesher which faces Jordan, who endured bitter fighting and 
lost a son in war. Today she looks out her window onto Jordan and wants 
the dream of peace to come true.
  Avraham Daskal, almost 90 years old, who worked for the electric 
company in Trans-Jordan, and was privileged to attend the celebrations 
marking King Hussein's birth. He is hoping for peace in his lifetime.
  And Dani Matt, who fought against Jordan in the war of independence, 
was taken a prisoner-of-war and devoted his life to the security of the 
State of Israel. He hopes that his grandchildren will never know war.
  Mrs. Penina Herzog, whose husband wove the first threads of political 
ties with Jordan.
  With us here in this hall are:
  The mayor of Eilat, Mr. Gabi Kadosh, which touches on the frontier 
with Jordan and will be a focus of common tourism.
  And Mr. Shimon Cahaner, who fought against the Jordanians, 
memorializes his fallen comrades and hopes that they will have been the 
last to fall.
  And Mr. Talal al-Krienawi, the mayor of a Bedouin town in Israel who 
looks forward to renewing the friendship with their brothers in Jordan.
  And Mr. David Coren, a member of a kibbutz which was captured by the 
Jordanians in 1948, who awaits the day when the borders will be open.
  And Dr. Asher Susser, a scholar who has done research on Jordan 
throughout his adult life.
  And Dr. Sharon Regev, whose father was killed while pursuing 
terrorists in the Jordan Valley and who yearns for peace with all his 
heart.
  Here they are before you, people who never rejoiced in the victories 
of war, but whose hearts are now filled with joy in peace.
  I have come here today from Jerusalem on the behalf of those 
thousands of bereaved families--though I have not asked their 
permission. I stand here on behalf of the parents who have buried their 
children; and of the children who have no fathers; and of the sons and 
daughters who are gone, but return to us in our dreams. I stand here 
today on the behalf of those youngsters who wanted to live, to love, to 
build a home. I have come from Jerusalem in the name of our children, 
who began their lives with great hope and are now names on graves and 
memorial stones, old pictures in albums, fading clothes in the closets. 
Each year as I stand before the parents whose lips are chanting 
``Kaddish,'' the Jewish Memorial Prayer, ringing in my ears the words 
of the same famous Archibald MacLeish who echoes the plea of the young 
dead soldiers, and I quote:

     They say: We leave you our deaths.
     Give them their meaning.

  Let us give them meaning;
  Let us make an end to the bloodshed.
  Let us make true peace.
  Let us today be victorious in ending war.
  Mr. Speaker, the debate goes on: Who shapes the face of history? 
Leaders or circumstances?
  My answer to you is: We all shape the face of history. We, the 
People. We, the farmers behind our plows, the teachers in our 
classrooms, the doctors saving lives, the scientists at our computers, 
the workers on the assembly lines, the builders on our scaffolds.
  We, the mothers blinking back tears as our sons are drafted into the 
army, we, the fathers who stay awake at night worried and anxious for 
our children's safety. We, Jews and Arabs. We, Israelis land 
Jordanians. We, the people, we shape the face of history.
  And we, the leaders, hear the voices, and sense the deepest emotions 
and feelings of thousands and millions, and translate them into 
reality.
  If my people did not desire peace so strongly, I would not be 
standing here today, and I am sure that if the children of Amman and 
the soldiers of Irbid, the women of Saltt, and the citizens of Aqaba 
did not seek peace, our partner in this great quest, the King of 
Jordan, would not be here now, shaking hands, calling for peace.
  We bear the responsibility. We have the power to decide. And we dare 
not miss this great opportunity. For it is the duty of the leaders to 
bring peace and well-being to their peoples. We are graced with the 
privilege of fulfilling this duty for our peoples. This is our 
responsibility.
  The complex relations between Israel and Jordan have continued for a 
generation. Today, so many years later, we carry with us good memories 
of the special ties between your country, your Majesty, and mine, and 
we carry with us the grim reminders of the times we found ourselves at 
war.
  We remember the days of your grandfather, King Abdullah, who sought 
avenues of peace with the heads of the Jewish people and the leaders of 
the young State of Israel.
  There is much work before us. We face psychological barriers. We face 
genuine practical problems. Walls of hostility have been built on the 
River Jordan which runs between us. You in Amman, and we in Jerusalem, 
must tear down those barriers and walls, must solve those concrete 
problems, and I am sure that we will do it.
  Yesterday we took a giant step toward a peace which will embrace it 
all: borders and water, security and economics, trade without boycotts, 
tourism, the environment and diplomatic relations. We want a peace 
between countries, but, above all, between human beings.
  Beyond the ceremonies, after the festivities, we will move on to the 
negotiations. They will not be easy. But when they are completed, a 
wonderful, common future awaits us. The Middle East, the cradle of the 
great monotheistic civilizations: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the 
Middle East, which was a valley of the shadow of death, will be a place 
where it is a pleasure to live.
  We live on the same stretch of land. The same rain nourishes our 
soil; the same hot wind parches our fields. We find shade under the 
same fig tree and savor the fruit of the same green vine. We drink from 
the same well. Only a 70-minute journey separates these cities, 
Jerusalem and Amman, and 46 years, and, just as we have been enemies, 
so can we be good and friendly neighbors.

  Since it is unprecedented that in this joint meeting two speakers 
will be invited, allow me to turn to His Majesty. Your Majesty, we have 
both seen a lot in our lifetime. We have both seen too much suffering. 
What will you leave to your children? What will I leave to my 
grandchildren? I have only dreams: to build a better world, a world of 
understanding and harmony, a world in which it is a joy to live. This 
is not asking for too much.
  The State of Israel thanks you, thanks you for accepting our hand in 
peace, for your political wisdom and courage, for planting new hope in 
the hearts of your subjects, and the hearts of all peace-loving people, 
and I know that you enjoy the highest esteem of the United States, this 
great America, which is helping the bold to make a peace of the brave.
  From this Hall that represents freedom, liberty and democracy, I 
would like to say, ``Thank you,'' to President Clinton, to the former 
Presidents of the United States, to the Secretary of State, Secretary 
Christopher, to former Secretaries of State and former administrations; 
to you, Mr. Speaker, the Vice President; and we are more than thankful 
to you, the distinguished Members of the Congress, Representatives of 
the American people, and to you, to the wonderful people of America. I 
do so because no words can express our gratitude to you and to the 
American people for years of your generous support, understanding and 
cooperation which are all but beyond compare in modern history. Thank 
you, America. God bless America.
  Tomorrow I shall return to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of 
Israel and the heart of the Jewish people. Lining the road to Jerusalem 
are rusting bulks of metal--burnt-out, silent, cold. They are the 
remains of convoys which brought food and medicine to the war-torn and 
besieged city of Jerusalem 46 years ago.
  For many of Israel's citizens, their story is one of heroism, part of 
our national legend. For me and comrades-in-arms, every scrap of cold 
metal lying there by the wayside is a bitter memory. I remember, I 
remember it as though it were just yesterday. I remember them. I was 
their commander in war. For them this ceremony has come too late. What 
endures are their children, their comrades. It is their legacy.

  Allow me to make a personal note:
  I, military I.D. No. 30743, retired general in the Israel Defence 
Forces in the past, consider myself to be a soldier in the army of 
peace today. I, who served my country for 27 years as a soldier, I say 
to you, to Your Majesty, the King of Jordan; I say to you, our American 
friends:
  Today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, 
no blood and no anguish. This is the only battle which is a pleasure to 
wage: the battle for peace.
  Tomorrow, on the way up to Jerusalem, thousands of flowers will cover 
the remains of those rusting armored vehicles, the ones that never made 
it to the city. Tomorrow, from those silent metal heaps, thousands of 
flowers will smile to us with the word ``peace,'' shalom.
  In the Bible, our Book of the Books, peace is mentioned in its 
various idioms 237 times. In the Bible, from which we draw our values 
and our strength, in the Book of Jeremiah, we find a lamentation for 
Rachel the Matriarch; it reads:

       Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears: 
     for their work shall be rewarded, says the Lord.

  I will not refrain from weeping for those who are gone. But on this 
summer day in Washington, far, far from home, we sense that our work 
will be rewarded, as the Prophet foretold.
  The Jewish tradition calls for a blessing on every new tree, every 
new fruit, on every new season.
  Let me conclude with the ancient Jewish blessing that has been with 
us, in exile and in Israel, for thousands of years, and allow me to do 
it in Hebrew:
  Baruch Ataw Adonoi Eloheynu Shehecky Yonu Vekeymonu Veheegionu Lazman 
Hazeh.

       Blessed are You, O Lord, who has preserved us, and 
     sustained us, and enabled us to reach this time.

  God, bless the peace.
  [Applause, the Members rising.]
  At 12 noon His Majesty King Hussein I of the Hashemite Kingdom of 
Jordan and His Excellency Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, 
retired from the Hall of the House of Representatives.
  The Doorkeeper escorted the invited guests from the Chamber in the 
following order:
  The members of the President's Cabinet.
  The Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
  The Ambassadors, Ministers, and Charges d'Affaires of foreign 
governments.

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