    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [July 18, 1999]
    [Pages 1244-1245]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner for Prime Minister Ehud Barak
    of Israel
    July 18, 1999

        I want to, first of all, welcome you all and thank you for braving
    the rather lengthy receiving line. Prime Minister Barak has asked me to
    announce that you can relax, because our speeches will only be half as
    long as the receiving line. [Laughter]
        It's a great pleasure and an honor for Hillary and I to welcome the
    Baraks to the White House. This is a good day.
    This is a good day for affirming the eternal friendship between Israel
    and the United States. It is also a hard day for those of us who are
    Americans, and we offer our prayers for John Kennedy, Carolyn Bessette,
    and Lauren Bessette and for their families.
    We are reminded again that life and its possibilities are fleeting, that
    we mortals are obliged to be humble and grateful for every day, and to
    make the most of every day, and that the obligation we bear for the
    search for peace in the Middle East should be assumed with that clear
    knowledge.
        Mr. Prime Minister, 12 days ago you spoke to the Knesset, announcing
    your new government. Now, I read your speech with great interest,
    particularly your vow that you will, quote, ``not sleep a wink'' until
    peace is achieved. Shortly after you gave that speech you came here; we
    went to Camp David; you kept me up until 1:45 in the morning. [Laughter]
    This is a man who keeps his commitments. [Laughter]
        In that speech, you proclaimed that this moment is, quote, ``a
    landmark and a turning point, a time of reconciliation, a time of unity,
    a time of peace.'' Many years of hard work have brought this day
    closer--some of it done on this very ground. Here Prime Minister Begin
    and President Sadat, with President Carter's assistance, made peace.
    Here Prime Minister Rabin, Chairman Arafat, and King Hussein committed
    to peace. Here last year, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat
    agreed to build on that commitment.
        Now the challenge is to make the promise of those days a reality
    every day from now on, to implement the Wye accords, to reach a
    permanent status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people, to
    build a comprehensive peace for the region, including Syria and Lebanon.
    Mr. Prime Minister, you have made it very clear that Israel will keep
    its commitments. I want to make it equally clear that America

    [[Page 1245]]

    will do its part. And that should include the approval by our Congress
    of the commitments we made at Wye to help the parties promote the peace
    process.
        Mr. Prime Minister, I know you are more than ready for the challenge
    ahead. Americans know you as a great war hero. They may not know you as
    a classical pianist, a systems analyst, a tinkerer who can take apart
    and repair any clock, and, I am told, pick any lock. [Laughter] I don't
    know what you're thinking about for a career change, but--[laughter].
        They may not know about your parents' path to Israel, how your
    father saw his parents killed by Cossacks in Lithuania, while you
    mother's parents perished in the Holocaust. The qualities you have and
    the experiences you have known have shaped a leader of extraordinary
    breadth and depth. A leader who is a decorated warrior but, who, like
    another decorated warrior, Yitzhak Rabin, has the courage to make peace,
    the humanity to treat old adversaries with dignity and fairness, the
    wisdom to know that the land which brought forth the world's great
    religions, who share a belief in one loving creator, God, that cares for
    us all, surely that region can be a land of milk and honey for all who
    call it home.
        President Theodore Roosevelt, also a warrior turned peacemaker, said
    when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, ``Words count only when they
    give expression to deeds.'' Much of the hard work of turning words to
    deeds remains to be done. I am grateful that the people of Israel have
    called upon you for your greatest command: to bring to life the
    cherished dream of shalom, salaam, peace.
        Please join me in a toast to Prime Minister Barak, to Nava, to all of the friends of peace here, especially to you,
    Leah Rabin, and to the people of Israel.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:20 p.m. in the South Lawn Pavilion at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Barak's wife,
    Nava; and Leah Rabin, widow of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of Prime Minister Barak.