[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3955-S3956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL

 Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in recognition of the warm bonds of 
affection that exist between the people of Israel and the people of the 
United States, and the enduring friendship that unites our two nations, 
I rise today to congratulate the State of Israel on the 50th 
Anniversary of its birth as an independent nation.
  Mr. President, no people in the world have more in common with 
Americans than the people of Israel. No two nations are more committed 
to freedom, to justice, and to peace than Israel and the United States.
  As nations of immigrants, we cherish our common culture and honor the 
rich traditions that make us one. We revere our families, nourish our 
faith, and never hesitate to make sacrifices in the present if they 
will secure a better future for our children.
  As such, we make loyal friends and determined adversaries--as both 
our friends and our foes around the world have learned throughout the 
years.
  Mr. President, those shared values and similar heritage have made us 
more than fellow democracies. They've made us fast friends, valued 
trading partners, and strategic allies. And I pray that nothing ever 
happens to change that relationship.
  These things were never clearer to me than they were when I visited 
Israel last year. It was, in fact, my first foreign visit as a member 
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What I learned and saw there 
will remain with me for the rest of my life.
  Together with my wife, Karyn, I visited Jericho, Haifa and Tel Aviv. 
I traveled to the Golan Heights, spent a night on a kibbutz, and stood 
on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. I met with diplomats and military 
leaders, visited industries and hospitals, and throughout it all I was 
excited by Israel's economy and impressed with its commitment to 
technological excellence.
  But my most memorable moments had nothing to do with international 
politics or diplomacy. They came from my contact with a people whose 
spirit is as strong and unshakable as the 3,000 years of history that 
lies beneath every step one takes in that holy land.
  Mr. President, in preparing for my trip to Israel, and especially to 
Jerusalem, I read a lot about its topography, its history, its climate, 
and its culture. But nothing prepared me for its incomparable beauty. 
It is a place whose sights and melodies permeate your being and leave 
an indelible mark on your soul.
  After experiencing it first-hand, it is not at all hard to imagine 
why this 3,000-year-old link--unmatched in all of history--exists 
between a place and a people, and why--even through centuries of war, 
oppression, exile and dispersion--that link has never been severed.
  But Israel is much more than its collected history, as the last five 
decades

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have decidedly proven. It is a demonstration of what can be 
accomplished when a people are determined to overcome every obstacle to 
freedom and self-determination. Although young--50 years is but a 
moment in the long history of the Jewish people--Israel is today a 
vibrant, thriving democracy whose achievements in science, technology, 
agriculture, industry, and trade are a match for any nation centuries 
older.
  Yet while the land of Israel is the land of the Jewish people, it is 
also the land of us all--as the more than two and a half million 
tourists who visit Israel every year will attest. Few places on earth 
have been as cherished and as loved by so many millions throughout the 
world as the places of Israel. It is, as one writer described it, ``a 
symphony of voices, heard by all the people of the world.''
  Today, Mr. President, I know all those whose hearts have been touched 
by the music of Israel, join me in wishing her well. Together, we 
congratulate her on her remarkable achievements, we thank her for her 
friendship, and we pray for the day when all who dwell within her 
boundaries will, as St. Augustine prayed,

     ``. .  live in such delight,
     such pleasure and such play
     As that to them a thousand years
     Doth seem as yesterday.''

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