[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S4552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to join those in 
this Chamber and around the globe who have spiritually linked arms to 
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the State of 
Israel. I am particularly happy to see that the people of my own 
hometown of Stamford, Connecticut have seen fit to join in the 
international chorus of voices commemorating this milestone.
  After the horrors of the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of 
Israel represented a significant turning point. The world community 
denounced an endemic hatred that had led to the decimation of a people 
and in doing so, set the stage for the renaissance of a culture that 
had been without a home for nearly two thousand years. The time of 
tribulation had passed and Jews were, at long last, reunited with their 
ancestral homeland.
  Israel and the Old City of Jerusalem represent both the current state 
of humanity and the heights to which we can aspire. We have been taught 
that long ago, Israel was a gift to Abraham and his descendants, a 
token of thanks for his faithfulness. Since that time, Judaism, 
Christianity, and Islam have each governed this land and each religion 
has developed a spiritual stake in the land. These religions have lived 
in neighboring and even overlapping communities for half a century, yet 
peace and security have remained elusive. We have recently begun to see 
the first opportunities for a lasting peace. When this opportunity is 
fully realized, Israel will truly stand as both symbol and reality that 
the forces that bind us together are far greater than the forces that 
seek to divide us.
  The Jewish Community Center in Stamford will be holding its 
celebration on May 17, 1998. I am happy to join them and the millions 
of others who have lifted their voices in commemoration of this very 
important landmark.

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