    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [October 26, 1994]
    [Pages 1877-1879]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Signing Ceremony for the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty at
    the Border Between Israel and Jordan
    October 26, 1994

        King Hussein, President Weizman, Prime Minister Rabin, Prime
    Minister Majali, Crown Prince Hassan, Foreign Minister Peres, Foreign
    Minister Kozyrev, Mr. Secretary of State; to the people of Jordan and
    Israel, with a special thanks to those who are our cheering section up
    there--[laughter]--we thank you all.
        At the dawn of this peace of a generation, in this ancient place we
    celebrate the history and the faith of Jordanians and Israelis. But we
    break the chains of the past that for too

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    long have kept you shackled in the shadows of strife and suffering. We
    thank those who have worked for peace before. We celebrate the efforts
    of brave leaders who saw the bright horizon of this dawn, even while the
    darkness lingered.
        This vast bleached desert hides great signs of life. Today we see
    the proof of it, for peace between Jordan and Israel is no longer a
    mirage. It is real. It will take root in this soil. It will grow to
    great heights and shelter generations to come.
        Today we honor the constant and devoted work of two courageous
    leaders, two who have risked everything so that their children and their
    children's children need fight nor fear no more.
        King Hussein, today in this arid place, you bring to full flower the
    memory of the man who taught you to seek peace, your grandfather, King
    Abdullah. When he was martyred four decades ago, he left you with a
    great burden and a great dream. He believed that one day, on both sides
    of the River Jordan, Arab and Jew would live in peace. How bravely you
    have shouldered that burden and carried that dream. Now after so much
    danger and so much hardship, Your Majesty, your day has come. Truly, you
    have fulfilled your grandfather's legacy.
        Prime Minister Rabin, you have spent a lifetime as a soldier,
    fighting first to establish your country and then for so long to defend
    it. For a lifetime, you have fought with skill and tenacity and courage,
    simply to achieve a secure and lasting peace for your people. Now you
    have given them the hope of life after the siege. In your own words, you
    have now given them the challenge to furnish the house of Israel and
    make it a home. As a general, you have won many battles through strength
    and courage. But now, through strength and courage, you command the army
    of peace, and you have won the greatest victory of all. We salute you.
        As has been said before, this treaty is the product of many hands.
    Crown Prince Hassan and Foreign Minister Peres know better than any of
    us that peace does not spring full-grown. It requires cultivation. It
    requires patience and care. We salute their devotion and persistence,
    and the wise and determined counsel of Secretary Christopher. We are in
    all their debt, and we thank them.
        I say to the people of Israel and Jordan: Now you must make this
    peace real, to turn no man's land into every man's home, to take down
    the barbed wire, to remove the deadly mines, to help the wounds of war
    to heal. Open your borders. Open your hearts. Peace is more than an
    agreement on paper. It is feeling. It is activity. It is devotion.
        The forces of terror will try to hold you back. Already they take
    deadly aim at the future of peace. In their zeal to kill hope and keep
    hatred alive, they would deny all that peace can bring to your children.
    We cannot, we must not, we will not let them succeed.
        The United States stands with you. Since President Truman first
    recognized Israel, we have wished for and worked for comprehensive peace
    between Israel and all of her neighbors. On behalf of all Americans,
    including millions of Jewish and Arab Americans for whom this day means
    so much, I thank you for trusting America to help you arrive at this
    moment. The American people are very proud of the opportunity we have
    had.
        And now let the work of progress bear fruit. Here at the first of
    many crossing points to be open, people from every corner of the Earth
    will soon come to share in the wonders of your lands. There are
    resources to be found in the desert, minerals to be drawn from the sea,
    water to be separated from salt and used to fertilize the fields. Here
    where slaves in ancient times were forced to take their chisels to the
    stone, the Earth, as the Koran says, will stir and swell and bring forth
    life. The desert, as Isaiah prophesied, shall rejoice and blossom.
        Here your people will drink water from the same well and savor
    together the fruit of the vine. As you seize this moment, be assured
    that you will redeem every life sacrificed along the long road that
    brought us to this day. You will take the hatred out of hearts, and you
    will pass along to your children a peace for the generations.
        Your Majesty, Mr. Prime Minister, here in the Great Rift Valley you
    have bridged the tragic rift that separated your people for too long.
    Here in this region, which is the home of not only both your faiths but
    mine, I say: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the
    Earth.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 1:50 p.m. at the Wadi Araba
    border crossing. In his

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    remarks, he referred to King Hussein, Crown Prince Hassan, and Prime
    Minister Abd al-Salam al-Majali of Jordan; President Ezer Weizman, Prime
    Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of Israel; and
    Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev of Russia.