    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 2, 1999]
    [Pages 1948-1950]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Memorial Ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin in Oslo
    November 2, 1999

        Your Majesties,
    Prime Minister and Mrs.
    Bondevik, Mr. Mayor, President Ahtisaari, Shimon
    Peres, Prime Minister Barak, Chairman Arafat, Leah
    Rabin, ladies and gentlemen, today we bear
    witness to the wisdom of the Psalm which says, ``the righteous shall be
    in everlasting remembrance.'' We honor a righteous man whose memory is
    everlasting, because he devoted his life to the security of his country
    but gave his life to the promise of peace.

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        Yitzhak Rabin's life was a lesson, teaching us that old fears and
    suspicions and hatreds can, in fact, be overcome, for he would be the
    first to remind us that he felt all those things, too, but he let them
    go; teaching us that there could be no security without lasting peace
    and no peace without charity for all and malice toward none; teaching us
    that the only final answer to violence is reconciliation.
        Almost 7 years ago, those principles brought Israelis and
    Palestinians to this city of peace to find common ground. And today our
    friend brings us back to Oslo. We can almost hear his kind, but stern
    voice telling us, ``Well, this is all very nice, but if you really want
    to honor me, finish the job.'' He would be pleased to see Israel's cause
    represented by Prime Minister Barak, his friend,
    fellow soldier, and fervent ally for peace.
        In his last hour, Yitzhak Rabin, who was a shy person in public,
    sang to a peace-loving throng of Israelis the Shir Ha Shalom, the ``Song
    of Peace.'' Its words sing out to us today: Don't say the day will come;
    make it come. Today, in honor of our friend and leader, we must all say
    we will make it come, a new day of peace that is more than the absence
    of war; a new day of tolerance and respect, of trust and shared destiny,
    when the fears of the past are released so that the hands and heart are
    free to embrace the promise of the future.
        The enemies of peace remain alive and active. Even in this day we
    see their dark work. But the Scripture reminds us that evil can be
    overcome by good, and only by good. So we pursue Yitzhak Rabin's vision
    not only because we loved and admired him--although we surely did--but
    because it is right and the only way.
        We have now a chance, but only a chance, to bring real and lasting
    peace between Israel and her neighbors. If we let it slip away, all will
    bear the consequences: Israel still trapped within a circle of
    hostility; the Palestinians still saddled with poverty and frustration
    and pain; both and their Arab neighbors wrapped in an endless and
    pointless cycle of conflict.
        So if Rabin were here with us today, he would say there is not a
    moment to spare; ``All this honoring me and these nice words, they're
    very nice, but please finish the job.''
        The way ahead will be full of challenges for the Israelis, the
    Palestinians, the Syrians, the Lebanese, for the friends of peace here
    represented. President Mubarak and King
    Abdullah will be important to our efforts. I
    am determined that the United States will do all we can, including
    living up to the commitments we made at Wye River. But the most
    important thing we can do today is to say to our friend, Rabin, we can
    still hear you; we are prepared to finish the job.
        When President Kennedy was assassinated, Abba Eban said, ``Tragedy
    is the difference between what is and what might have been.'' That is
    the way we felt in the months and years after Prime Minister Rabin was
    killed. Today let us say together we are done with tragedy. We will
    close the gap between what is and what might have been.
        The other night my wife had to
    the White House one of the great scientists in
    our country, who is unlocking the mysteries of the human gene. And he
    said to us the most astonishing thing. He said all humanity,
    genetically, are 99.9 percent the same. And if you get any group, ethnic
    group, together--100 Norwegians--with another ethnic group--100 west
    Africans--you find that the genetic differences among individuals within
    each group are greater than the genetic profile of differences between
    the Norwegians and the Africans. Think of that.
        Think of all the bodies that have been piled up, one after another,
    the young and the old, throughout human history in tribute to that one-
    tenth of one percent difference. Think about what brings us here today,
    that the greatest quality a human being can have is the ability to reach
    beyond that last one-tenth of one percent to unite in the common
    humanity of the other 99.9 percent.
        Yitzhak Rabin led us in that great reach out, reaching across the
    last divide of one-tenth of one percent. It was his greatness. It is his
    lesson. It is his message to us today. Let us hear him, even as we loved
    him.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. in the Main Hall at City Hall.
    In his remarks, he referred to King Harald V, Queen Sonja, and Prime
    Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway; Prime Minister Bendevik's wife,
    Bjorg; Mayor Per Ditlev-Simonsen of Oslo; President Martti Ahtisaari of
    Finland; former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud
    Barak of Israel; Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority;
    Leah Rabin, widow of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel;
    President

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    Hosni Mubarak of Egypt; King Abdullah II of Jordan; and Eric Lander,
    director, Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research.