[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE LIFE, LEGACY, AND EXAMPLE OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER 
           YITZHAK RABIN ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

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                               speech of

                            HON. JOHN LEWIS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 6, 2005

  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in honor of a warrior 
for peace. Yitzhak Rabin, a former solider, the former chief of staff 
of the Israeli Defense Force, put down his gun and decided that 
sacrifice was necessary to achieve peace.
  After fighting Israel's enemies his whole life, Yitzhak Rabin chose 
to talk to his enemies at the negotiating table. He chose to try and 
end a conflict that pre-dated the birth of the state of Israel by 
agreeing to exchange valuable land for the end of all bloodshed.
  Yitzhak Rabin knew that war was not the answer. He knew that war does 
not bring along peace. In his 1994 Nobel Prize acceptance speech he 
said, ``There is only one radical means of sanctifying human lives. Not 
armored plating, or tanks, or planes, or concrete fortifications. The 
one radical solution is peace.''
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise to mark the legacy of a leader who not only 
spoke about peace, but gave his life in the pursuit of peace. His life 
was taken away from him because he tried to end the bloodshed of his 
people. Yitzhak Rabin was a leader for peace and today we remember him 
for that legacy.

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