[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.