Israel, 1998

As the Prime Minister of

Israel, I represent a State whose creation was envisioned,

encouraged and advocated by the League of Nations 80

years ago and by the United Nations 50 years ago. That

extraordinary recognition by the international community

confirmed what the Jewish people have known and felt for

two millennia: the bond between the people of Israel and

the land of Israel is eternal, and the rebirth of the Jewish

State in the land of Israel is a historic imperative.

Religious and non-religious people alike have viewed

this rebirth as a modern miracle, the realization of the

vision of the Hebrew prophets. Yet ever since that miracle

occurred, we have all been hoping that it would be

accompanied by the fulfilment of another biblical prophesy:

“nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither

shall they learn war any more.” (The Holy Bible,

Isaiah 2:4)

It was in fact in that spirit that the founders of Israel

stretched out the hand of peace to our neighbours in our

Declaration of Independence some 50 years ago. Now, half

a century later, as we view with pride our nation?s

extraordinary accomplishments and achievements, we are

determined to complete the circle of peace around us. No

people have suffered more from war and violence than the

Jewish people and no one wants peace more than we do. I

know that that is not a common perception of us. I,

personally, am often accused of not wanting peace. Nothing

could be further from the truth. I have been on the fields of

battle. I have seen my comrades fall. I have two small

children at home. I want a future free of war — a future of

peace, for them and for Palestinian children like them.

We want peace for us and for the Palestinian people,

whose prolonged suffering has been one of the cruel

consequences of the wars waged against us. We are willing

to make painful compromises for peace. We hope that the

Palestinians are ready to make those necessary

compromises as well. What is at stake is our life together

in a very small land, and there is no reason that we should

not be able to live together. All of us are, after all, the sons

and daughters of Abraham.

As we search for peace, we naturally encounter

crises and stalemates, frustrations and obstacles — that is

inevitable in any negotiating process. But only

negotiations can solve our problems. An outcome which

is not the result of negotiations is an invitation to

continued conflict. Negotiations accompanied by violence

and threats of violence are an invitation to failure. T h e

option of violence must therefore be totally discarded and

permanently disavowed.

Peace will be achieved only by heeding the call

made by two great leaders, the late Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat and Israel?s former Prime Minister

Menachem Begin. Twenty-one years ago they declared in

Jerusalem, “No more war. No more bloodshed”.

The Treaty they hammered out at Camp David was

a historic turning point which changed the face of our

region. It has benefited both countries and brought hope

to all of us, as has the peace with Jordan, which is a

model peace for all our neighbours. King Hussein?s

contribution to this peace, his devotion to the

advancement of our relationship and his efforts to help

the peace process with the Palestinians have been

invaluable. In the name of the people of Israel and, I am

sure, on behalf of all the peoples and Governments

represented in the Assembly, I want to send King Hussein

our most heartfelt wishes for a quick and complete

recovery.

I believe we can achieve a successful peace

agreement with the Palestinians as well. But for that

peace to endure, it must be based on two principles. The

first is security. A peace that cannot be defended will not

last. That is the central lesson of the twentieth century.

None of us can afford to forget this lesson, least of all the

Jewish people. As the Prime Minister of the one Jewish

State, I must ensure Israel?s ability to defend itself,

regardless of criticism and misunderstanding by those

who do not share this responsibility.

The second principle of a durable peace is

reciprocity. Only agreements honoured by both sides can

be successful. The agreement between Israel and the

Palestinians is at bottom based on a simple equation: the

Palestinians receive jurisdiction in the territory in which

they live, and in return they prevent terrorist attacks

against Israel from those territories. Israel has been

fulfilling its part of this agreement: 100 per cent of the

Palestinians in the Gaza district and 98 per cent of the

Palestinians in Judean Samaria, known as the West Bank,

are now living under Palestinian rule. They enjoy the

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attributes of self-government: they have their own flag,

their own executive, legislative and judiciary bodies and

their own police force.

It can no longer be claimed by anyone that Israel is

occupying the Palestinians. We do not govern their lives.

But we cannot accept a situation in which they will threaten

our lives, and that is of paramount concern to us as we

approach further redeployment.

The territory we are negotiating about is virtually

uninhabited by Palestinians — there are only a few

thousand Bedouins there who roam about. Yet this land is

the canvas on which thousands of years of Jewish history

have been etched. And it has powerful implications for our

security. We should remember that at its widest point Israel

is all of 50 miles wide, and should it cede all of the West

Bank, as some so cavalierly tell us to do, that distance

would be reduced to the distance between this building and

La Guardia airport. How many Governments and leaders

would put their nations at such risk? None. Yet we are

prepared to undertake careful, controlled and calculated

risks for peace. Nevertheless, to part with one square inch

of this land is agonizing for us, and for me personally.

Every stone and every hill and valley that I have walked —

I know them intimately, as do my people — resonates with

our forefathers? footsteps, from the cradle of Jewish

civilization through the biblical kings and prophets and the

sages, scholars and poets of Israel, down to our own time.

Yet in the spirit of compromise and reconciliation we

have agreed to transfer to Palestinian jurisdiction some of

this hallowed land, provided that the principles of security

and reciprocity are kept. This means that Israel would retain

the ability to defend itself, and that the Palestinians would

fulfil their commitments, first and foremost to shun

violence and fight terrorism.

Under the Oslo and Hebron agreements, which I

signed, the Palestinian Authority and Chairman Arafat

agreed to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and arrest

and prosecute terrorist operatives. They agreed to collect

and dispose of illegal weapons, imprison and hand over

wanted murderers and reduce the Palestinian police to the

numbers prescribed in the Oslo agreements. That has not

been done to date. They also agreed to cease the vicious

daily propaganda on official Palestinian television; there are

Sesame Street programmes which exhort five-year olds to

become suicide warriors. This, I am afraid, is education for

war, not for peace. And they agreed that they must

complete the annulment of the Palestinian Charter, which

can only be done by the Palestinian National Council. That

Charter is still on the books and still on the Internet — if

representatives turn it on they can find it. It still calls for

Israel?s destruction thorough armed struggle, which is a

euphemism for terrorism. So I say today to our

Palestinian partners “Choose peace. Fight for peace. You

cannot talk peace and tolerate terrorism”.

Of course, terrorism endangers our peace, but it is

also a global cancer. Many leaders today understand this,

as President Clinton made abundantly clear from this very

podium a few days ago. But what makes the terrorism

rooted in the Middle East so pernicious and so dangerous

is that the terrorists invoke a distorted, twisted and fanatic

interpretation of Islam, which is very distant from

enlightened Islam. We have no quarrel with Islam. It is

one of the world?s great religions, and we have

admiration and respect for its institutions and its

teachings. But fanatic Islamist terrorism is religion

betrayed, and it not only threatens us but undermines

Arab Governments and societies. It endangers the peace

of the world.

For terrorism to be defeated, terrorists must be

punished and deterred, and the climate of support they

enjoy in various lands must disappear. That is the only

way that terrorism will decline and its growth be arrested

and that it will ultimately be rooted out from our lives.

The elimination of terrorism will undoubtedly lead

to prosperity in our region. We envision a market-based

regional economy between Israel, Jordan and the

Palestinian Authority. As I speak we are lifting the

barriers to trade, eliminating red tape and promoting joint

business ventures between the parties. Trade between

Israel and the Palestinians has shot up enormously in the

last two years because our policy is a liberal policy. If

things are better for them economically, things are better

for us. I should like to give an example relating to the

transfer of value added tax (VAT) from Palestinian

workers working in Israel, whose numbers have grown

enormously in the last two years. Three years ago we

transferred about 700 million shekels to the Palestinian

Authority from the work of Palestinian workers in Israel.

This year that figure will reach 2 billion shekels. That is

almost a threefold increase in three years. Representatives

do not know that; none of them knows that we have

dramatically improved the Palestinian economy because

we believe that life better for them is life better for us.

The absence of violence will enable all of us,

Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians and Israelis, and, I

may add, Syrians and Lebanese — this is not a far-

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fetched dream; it is certainly one that I have — to reach a

standard of living and quality of life now considered

unimaginable. Once we complete the current talks we will

begin negotiations for the final settlement — a final

settlement of peace with the Palestinian Authority.

I urged starting these negotiations a year ago, but I

regret to say that my offer was turned down. This phase is

long overdue. But as the late Yitzhak Rabin noted, no dates

in the Oslo accords are sacrosanct. No target date in them

was met on schedule. This failure to meet deadlines did not

put an end to the agreement. The Oslo accords are not

about meeting deadlines. Their essential purpose is to reach

a peace agreement through negotiations.

An arbitrary, unilateral declaration of a Palestinian

State, in disregard of this basic purpose of Oslo, would

constitute a fundamental violation of the Oslo accords. It

would cause the complete collapse of the process. I strongly

urge the Palestinian Authority not to take this course. Such

actions will inevitably prompt unilateral responses on our

part, and that development would not be good for the

Palestinians, not good for Israel, and not good for peace.

We must continue to negotiate, earnestly, continuously

and tirelessly until a final peace agreement is reached. No

other way will do.

What would such a peace look like? I envision its

success would lie in ensuring the following balance: the

Palestinians should have all the powers to govern their lives

and none of the powers to threaten our lives. They will

have control of all aspects of their society, such as law,

religion and education; industry, commerce and agriculture;

tourism, health and welfare. They can prosper and flourish.

What they cannot do is endanger our existence. We have a

right to ensure that the Palestinian entity does not become

the base for hostile forces, including foreign forces. We

have a right to ensure that it does not become a base and

haven for terrorists. In some cases we are talking about a

base — in New York city terms — five blocks away, and

without the East River. We are talking about something that

is not hypothetical.

As I prepared this speech, I was informed of a

terrorist attack — another one — in Jerusalem, in a bus

station. Happily, no one was killed today. But can we be

sure? We are seeking a peace that is peaceful, that is not

violent — a peace without terror, which is the only peace

that means anything.

Nor can we accept the mortal threat of weapons such

as anti-aircraft missiles on the hills above our cities and

airfields. If any representatives were to land at Tel Aviv

airport — as many have in the past — their planes could

be endangered by the inability of Israel, in a permanent

peace settlement, to control the importation of these lethal

weapons. This is the great challenge of the permanent

status negotiations: to achieve a durable peace that will

strike a balance between Palestinian self-rule and Israeli

security. This peace can be achieved by negotiation, and

negotiation alone. There is no other way.

Negotiation for peace is what we want with Lebanon

and Syria as well. As representatives know, over six

months ago our Government announced an initiative to

implement Security Council resolution 425 (1978). In our

decision, we said that Israel was prepared to withdraw

from south Lebanon provided that one condition was met:

that there would be security arrangements to ensure the

safety of the civilian population on both sides of the

Lebanese-Israeli border.

I can report that I find myself now in the bizarre

position of offering to withdraw from an Arab country

and meeting with Arab refusal to negotiate such a

withdrawal. But I can also report that we remain hopeful.

We have not abandoned this initiative.

Peace with Syria and Lebanon will complete the

circle of peace with our immediate neighbours. But the

achievement of a lasting peace in our region requires

addressing the ominous existential dangers which still

threaten Israel beyond the immediate horizon. Both Iran

and Iraq continue their efforts to acquire non-conventional

weapons and ballistic missiles with strategic reach. Iran

has just successfully tested an intermediate-range missile.

Iraq has declared that it will no longer accept

international inspections of its non-conventional

programmes, inspections mandated by Security Council

resolutions.

These developments threaten not only Israel, but all

the nations represented in this Hall. In the hands of the

rogue regimes of the Middle East, weapons of mass

destruction may pose a greater threat to the world, and to

world peace, than anything we have known in the past. I

want to caution members about something else: to let

sweet talk by leaders of these regimes lull us into inaction

is to repeat the worst mistakes of this century. What is

required instead is concerted international action to

prevent disaster.

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That, after all, is what this body was established to do.

And if it is to live up to its founders? expectations, it will

have to be far more adept at distinguishing between

fanatical aggressors and their intended victims. I believe

that the United Nations can help foster a climate of peace

and stability in our region by encouraging the reactivation

of the multilateral committees conceived at the Madrid

Conference. By addressing such issues as regional

economic development, arms control, the resolution of

refugee problems, water and the environment, these

committees can produce the important building blocks of

peace.

But ultimately, as in every conflict, the crucial

decisions must be made by the peoples of the Middle East

themselves. They must decide whether the region will

continue to be an arena for terrorism and war or become a

full participant in a peaceful, prosperous global economy.

Cooperation and peace can give the Middle East a leading

position in the world of the next millennium. Violence,

terrorism and war will assure stagnation and misery.

Deep in our hearts, we know which choice we want

for our children. My wife and I hope that when our two

little boys grow up, the only competition they will engage

in with Palestinian boys, and Egyptian boys, and Jordanian

and Syrian and Lebanese boys, will be on football fields

and in debating societies.

It is characteristic of the Jewish people to live in hope.

It is the name of our national anthem. It is what has made

it possible for us, despite unparalleled persecution, despite

the most horrific calamities to befall any people or any

nation, clinging to hope, to contribute as much as we have

to human progress in the past 4,000 years. And this hope is

reflected in the prayer we utter this week as we celebrate

the Jewish new year. It is a wish we extend from our

eternal capital Jerusalem, the city of peace, to all our

neighbours and to all present here today: “May the year and

its maledictions end, and a new year and its blessings

begin”. Shana tova — may you have a good year.