Tel Aviv - Below is the full text of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Sunday night, in which he outlined his
peace policies:
Honoured guests, citizens of Israel.
Peace has always been our people's most ardent desire. Our
prophets gave the world the vision of peace, we greet one another
with wishes of peace, and our prayers conclude with the word peace.
We are gathered this evening in an institution named for two
pioneers of peace, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, and we share in
their vision.
Two and half months ago, I took the oath of office as the prime
minister of Israel. I pledged to establish a national unity
government - and I did. I believed and I still believe that unity
was essential for us now more than ever as we face three immense
challenges - the Iranian threat, the economic crisis, and the
advancement of peace.
The Iranian threat looms large before us, as was further
demonstrated yesterday. The greatest danger confronting Israel, the
Middle East, the entire world and human race, is the nexus between
radical Islam and nuclear weapons. I discussed this issue with
President Obama during my recent visit to Washington, and I will
raise it again in my meetings next week with European leaders. For
years, I have been working tirelessly to forge an international
alliance to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Confronting a global economic crisis, the government acted swiftly
to stabilize Israel's economy. We passed a two year budget in the
government - and the Knesset will soon approve it.
And the third challenge, so exceedingly important, is the
advancement of peace. I also spoke about this with President Obama,
and I fully support the idea of a regional peace that he is leading.
I share the President's desire to bring about a new era of
reconciliation in our region. To this end, I met with President
Mubarak in Egypt, and King Abdullah in Jordan, to elicit the support
of these leaders in expanding the circle of peace in our region.
I turn to all Arab leaders tonight and I say: 'Let us meet. Let us
speak of peace and let us make peace. I am ready to meet with you at
any time. I am willing to go to Damascus, to Riyadh, to Beirut, to
any place - including Jerusalem.
I call on the Arab countries to cooperate with the Palestinians
and with us to advance an economic peace. An economic peace is not a
substitute for a political peace, but an important element to
achieving it. Together, we can undertake projects to overcome the
scarcities of our region, like water desalination or to maximize its
advantages, like developing solar energy, or laying gas and petroleum
lines, and transportation links between Asia, Africa and Europe.
The economic success of the Gulf States has impressed us all and
it has impressed me. I call on the talented entrepreneurs of the Arab
world to come and invest here and to assist the Palestinians - and us
- in spurring the economy.
Together, we can develop industrial areas that will generate
thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions
of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history - in Nazareth
and in Bethlehem, around the walls of Jericho and the walls of
Jerusalem, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee and the baptismal site
of the Jordan. There is an enormous potential for archeological
tourism, if we can only learn to cooperate and to develop it.
I turn to you, our Palestinian neighbours, led by the Palestinian
Authority, and I say: Let's begin negotiations immediately without
preconditions. Israel is obligated by its international commitments
and expects all parties to keep their commitments.
We want to live with you in peace, as good neighbours. We want our
children and your children to never again experience war: that
parents, brothers and sisters will never again know the agony of
losing loved ones in battle; that our children will be able to dream
of a better future and realize that dream; and that together we will
invest our energies in plowshares and pruning hooks, not swords and
spears.
I know the face of war. I have experienced battle. I lost close
friends, I lost a brother. I have seen the pain of bereaved families.
I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war.
If we join hands and work together for peace, there is no limit to
the development and prosperity we can achieve for our two peoples -
in the economy, agriculture, trade, tourism and education - most
importantly, in providing our youth a better world in which to live,
a life full of tranquility, creativity, opportunity and hope.
If the advantages of peace are so evident, we must ask ourselves
why peace remains so remote, even as our hand remains outstretched to
peace? Why has this conflict continued for more than sixty years?
In order to bring an end to the conflict, we must give an honest
and forthright answer to the question: What is the root of the
conflict?
In his speech to the first Zionist Conference in Basel, the
founder of the Zionist movement, Theodore Herzl, said about the
Jewish national home, 'This idea is so big that we must speak of it
only in the simplest terms.' Today, I will speak about the immense
challenge of peace in the simplest words possible.
Even as we look toward the horizon, we must be firmly connected to
reality, to the truth. And the simple truth is that the root of the
conflict was, and remains, the refusal to recognize the right of the
Jewish people to a state of their own, in their historic homeland.
... more to follow ...
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