[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16715-S16716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             YITZHAK RABIN

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I rise to extend my deepest personal 
sympathies and condolences to Mrs. Rabin, Mr. Rabin's children and 
grandchildren, to the people of Israel, and to the Jewish community of 
Missouri and the United States.
  Yitzhak Rabin was a warrior. As a young man, he left behind boyhood 
dreams and assumed the mantle of a soldier for a country that was still 
a dream to him and many others. He helped liberate 200 of his brothers 
in a heroic and legendary raid. He fought in the siege of Jerusalem and 
kept open the vital lines of supply. In 1967, it was General Rabin who 
was the architect of the determined fury of an Israeli Army that was 
victorious over three substantial enemies in what would become known as 
the Six Day War.
  Nevertheless, his prowess as a warrior was exceeded only by his 
courage as a peacemaker. He was an Ambassador to the United States. He 
made the first visit ever by an Israeli Prime Minister to West Germany. 
He tried to open peace negotiations with King Hussein of Jordan in the 
late 1970's. And, in a move that would ultimately cost him his life, he 
made peace with some of Israel's most substantial enemies.
  He need not have been a peacemaker. He could have gone quietly into 
the annals of history as a warrior, a Prime Minister, a father, and a 
grandfather. But Yitzhak Rabin was, from his earliest days, a Zionist. 
His goal, both in war and in peace, was the preservation of a land that 
God had promised. In the end, he saw in peace and through diplomacy 
what military victory might never bring--security for his home, for his 
land, for his nation.
  Unfortunately, it was not a journey which he was able to see through 
to completion. In his life, Yitzhak Rabin defined courage--the courage 
to fight in war and the courage to fight for peace. His legacy will be 
judged finally not only by what he started, but also by what Israel and 
her neighbors will eventually accomplish and achieve.
  That is a task which they must pursue and that they must complete. It 
is a task for which we will all be held accountable. So, when the 
mourning is completed--and mourn we must and should--may we resolve to 
do what he started and may the resolve linger in all of us to complete 
that which he began.
  As a boy, Yitzhak Rabin wanted to learn how to make the fertile soil 
of his land produce crops more abundantly. As a man and as a leader, 
Prime Minister Rabin plowed and harrowed the rocky ground of peace. It 
was both his hope and his vision that out of that ground would grow a 
tree bearing the unknown fruit of peace in a 

[[Page S 16716]]
land and for a people that had seen so little of it.
  In his finest hour, 2 years ago, at the White House, Prime Minister 
Rabin acknowledged this aspiration, as he said:

       Let me say to you, the Palestinians, we are destined to 
     live together on the same soil in the same land. . . . We 
     have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards 
     you. We, like you, are people--people who want to build a 
     home. To plant a tree. To love--live side by side with 
     you. In dignity. In empathy. As human beings. As free men.

  It is all of our prayers that his dream will live on.
  Mr. President, I thank you.
  Mr. GRAMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from 
Minnesota.

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