    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 28, 1995]
    [Pages 1511-1513]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Heads of State
    September 28, 1995

        Thank you very much. On behalf of the First Lady and myself, the
    Vice President and Mrs. Gore, and Secretary Christopher, we are
    delighted to welcome all of our visitors from around the world and
    especially from the Middle East, the Prime Ministers, the Foreign
    Ministers, especially Mrs. Rabin and Mrs. Arafat, Mrs. Mubarak, and Her
    Majesty Queen Noor.
        We are delighted to be here again with these four great leaders who
    have just spoken. I was

    [[Page 1512]]

    looking at His Majesty King Hussein when he said he was almost 60,
    thinking that he has been on the throne for more than 40 years. What I
    thought to myself was, for myself, I don't object to term limits, but
    I'm awfully glad he was not subject to them--[laughter]--because the
    Middle East is a different place because of the way King Hussein has
    lived his life for peace all these decades.
        I thank President Mubarak for the power of his example, the constant
    strength of his determination. Not so very long ago, my family and I
    were, as with many Americans, praying for his safety. We are glad to see
    him strong, leading the world working toward peace.
        I agree with Prime Minister Rabin that Chairman Arafat makes a good
    speech and a passionate one. What an interesting turn of events his life
    has taken, and how fortunate we all are that he decided to take his
    risks for peace.
        Mr. Prime Minister, you give a pretty good speech yourself. I think
    you give such a good speech because it is obvious to everyone that every
    word you utter comes from your heart and your mind together, and we
    thank you.
        And to all my fellow Americans and all of you here present, we've
    heard a lot of wonderful words today. I would like to close with three
    brief points that I believe should be emphasized. First, I want to
    recognize the negotiators, Foreign Minister Peres, Mr. Abu Mazin, Mr.
    Uri Savir, and Mr. Abu Alaa and their teams. They did this, and we
    should applaud them. We should applaud them. [Applause]
        I watched today in the Cabinet Room while the Prime Minister and
    Chairman Arafat literally signed, initialed, the annex to this
    agreement, which included 26 different maps, comprising literally
    thousands and thousands of decisions that these two sides made. After
    long and arduous argument, they found common ground. It was an
    astonishing achievement, the care, the detail, the concern that they
    manifested and the effort it took to reach agreement was truly
    extraordinary. And I do not want that to escape anyone's attention.
        The second thing I want to say is that this agreement embodies, for
    those of us who are Americans, the things that we believe in the most,
    for this agreement required the acceptance of responsibility, along with
    the assertion of freedom and independence. This agreement required
    people to think about the interests of their children and the sacrifices
    of their parents. This agreement required a real effort to reach
    principled compromise, common ground, and higher ground. And make no
    mistake about it, this agreement required these decisionmakers to do
    things that may be unpopular in the short run, because they know that
    10, 20, 30 years from now, it is the only course for the future of the
    people that they love.
        And that brings me to the second point: What are our obligations,
    the rest of us? We can clap for them. But they have to go back to work
    tomorrow. When the glamour is gone and the applause has died out, they
    will be back at the hard work. There are two things we can do for them.
    The first thing we have to do is to stand with them against terrorism.
    It is the enemy of peace everywhere.
        Now we in America know what it is like to see parents grieving over
    the bodies of their children and children grieving over the bodies of
    their parents because people believe that terrorism is simply politics
    by other means. We have had our hearts ripped out, and now we know
    better. So we must stand with them against terrorism.
        The second thing we have to do is to work with them to achieve the
    benefits of peace, for the peace has to bring people the opportunity to
    work with dignity, to educate their children, to clean up their
    environment, to invest in their future. Hundreds and hundreds of Arab-
    Americans and Jewish-Americans have the capacity to work with these
    people in partnership to transform the future of the Middle East. And I
    say again, let us do our part.
        Finally, let me say to all the Members of Congress here present and
    those who were there this afternoon, I thank you for your presence and
    your support of this process.
        We know that in this era where we have gone from the bipolar world
    of the cold war to a global village with all kinds of new and different
    threats to our security, only the United States can stand consistently
    throughout the world for the cause of freedom and democracy and
    opportunity. We know that, and we must continue to do that, not simply
    for the people of the Middle East but for ourselves as well. For when we
    work for peace in Northern Ireland, in Southern Africa, in Haiti, in
    Bosnia, when we work to dismantle the threat of nuclear war and fight
    terrorism, we help ourselves and our children's future.

    [[Page 1513]]

        But I will say again what I said today: If we can make peace in the
    Middle East, if we can help the people who live there to make their own
    peace, it will have a special meaning for ourselves and for the world in
    the 21st century for the simple reason that the world's three great
    religions who believe that one God created us, watches over us, and
    ultimately will hold us to account for what we do--we all study through
    the Koran, through the Torah, through the Holy Bible those lessons--
    surely if those people can resolve all their differences, we can bring
    peace to all the world.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 8:15 p.m. at the Corcoran
    Gallery. In his remarks, he referred to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt
    and his wife, Suzanne; Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and his
    wife, Leah; PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his wife, Suha; Queen Noor,
    wife of King Hussein; Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of Israel; and
    Director General Uri Savir, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.