A diplomatic peace is not yet the real peace. It is an essential step in the peace process leading towards a real peace.
All this must be tested in a comprehensive structure, and not as the Syrians have been trying since the Madrid Conference, demanding that Israel first agree to full withdrawal before we sit down and talk.
For me, Jerusalem was united, will be under Israel sovereignty, will be the capital of Israel and the heart of the Jewish people.
Give peace a chance.
I admire King Hussein his courage in leading his country for a long time.
I always have a doubt on one hand, and at the same time, expectations to have it in a better way.
I am 73 years old. I was born in Jerusalem. I'm the first prime minister of Israel to be born here. I am the only former general to become a prime minister.
I am for the United States being involved, and I hope that the United States will keep its commitment to Jordan, to the Palestinians, in accordance to what was said to them.
I am healthy. I wish all my colleagues to the peace process to be healthy.
I am not worried about the relations between Israel and the United States.
I appreciate the Chairman Arafat for his courage to take the decision to enter into negotiations with us.
I await the moment when, within the framework of an agreement, not of withdrawal without agreement, Israeli soldiers will not have to patrol the greater Gaza area, and suffer such losses as we have know in the seven years of the intifada.
I believe however that peace is attainable regardless of the Arabs mentality, society or government.
I believe that Arafat made a serious error in not condemning it. But his behavior is not a criterion for the behavior of the Israeli government, and I therefore do not think that the correct response is to stop the negotiations.
I believe that in the long run, separation between Israel and the Palestinians is the best solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I believe that it is my responsibility as the prime minister of Israel to do whatever can be done to exploit the unique opportunities that lie ahead of us to move towards peace. Not everything can be done by one act.
I believe the future of the region depends on the kind of cooperation between King Hussein, Chairman Arafat and Israel to bring about a new Middle East.
I believe, too, that we will prevail over them. We have known terrorist attacks in the past, and I am afraid there is no hermetic solution to terrorism.
I considered the prevention of war as the test of our security policy; in addition to being able to rapidly and forcefully end any war forced upon us.
I don't believe that in the name of the holiness of the city you have to put barbed wires, machine gun nests, mine pins and everything of that, in the name of the holiness of Jerusalem.
I don't want to create any misunderstanding.
I enter negotiations with Chairman Arafat, the leader of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, with the purpose to have coexistence between our two entities, Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinian state, entity, next to us, living in peace.
I intend to continue what I have started.
I invite President Assad to come to Jerusalem and to speak with me, with our parliament, with whomever he wants to speak in Israel and in the territories among the Palestinians.
I recognize that there is a Palestinian people, and next to Israel should be a Palestinian entity that I don't want to define it now.
I think that there is an opportunity for Arafat and those with him to reach a political solution, to take over Gaza, except of course all that was agreed upon on the basis of the Cairo Agreement and the attached map.
I would like Israel to be a Jewish state, and therefore not to annex over 2 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israel, which will make Israel a bi-national state.
I'll continue to carry out whatever we are committed to. Whatever we believe leads us to a permanent solution the way we want it, the way I want it.
In the midst of fighting there is no place for public debate.
Israel has an important principle: It is only Israel that is responsible for our security.
Israel is no longer a people that dwells alone, and has to join the global journey toward peace, reconciliation and international cooperation.
Israel's mere existence will be in jeopardy in case of total desertion by the U.S.
Israel's willingness to cooperate closely with the U.S. in protecting American interests in the region altered her image in the eyes of many officials in Washington.
It is not worth the paper it is written on unless it is backed by the kind of force that will make the other side consider the penalties too heavy to break the agreement.
It is the duty of the government to guarantee maximum security, and this is not an easy task.
Jerusalem is united, will never be divided again.
Let's hope this will be the way that we will solve our problems, in the time that we have, and the time is in our hands, and the results are dependent on what we will do.
No Arab ruler will consider the peace process seriously so long as he is able to toy with the idea of achieving more by the way of violence.
One has to read the declaration of principles. It was divided into two parts. We all saw Jericho. The second part is vis a vis the West Bank.
Only the change on the international scene, the crisis in the gulf, and the strong, firm position of the United States against aggression between two Arab countries created realities that led to the Madrid Peace Conference.
Our effort today is to achieve a combined political solution, and first of all to rid ourselves of Gaza.
Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, is the only Palestinian partner and it bears responsibility for what happens in areas under its control.
Peace with Syria would provide more security than a few settlements on the Golan.
Practically the only way to dry the swamp of radical Islam is through economic development and an improved standard of living.
Steps toward a rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states create a process that turns economics into the moving force that shapes the regional relations instead of nationalist interests that were dominant in the past.
Stopping the negotiations would be a victory for the enemies of peace, first and foremost on the Palestinian side, and also to those in Israel to oppose the peace process.
Syria doesn't want to talk with us on a bilateral basis, only under the auspices of the United States.
Syria, for all practical purposes, represents Lebanon. And therefore, there is a good chance for peace, but still, there are many obstacles.
The cruel murder carried out in Afula in a suicide carbomb attack on a bus and bus stop, which caused us painful losses, was a hard blow.
The government has decided to move towards a political solution on the basis of the Declaration of Principles signed in Washington.
The negotiations must address all aspects, both peace and withdrawal.
The problem at the moment is that there are no other channels.
The struggle to get weapons is continuous, but the United States will aid us, if it finds Israel displaying a willingness for peace.
The talks with Syria will resume, I believe along the lines that I discussed with President Clinton during my visit to the United States.
The time has come for the radical right to stop reveling in the bloodshed.
The United States serves as a go-between, serves in Washington, under its umbrella, the director in the presence of the American officials.
The world is no longer against us.
There are two phases of the redeployment of the Israeli forces in the West Bank: One, to allow elections. Second, after the elections, to help further redeployment.
There is a great opportunity to move ahead with the peace process.
There is no way of finding the middle ground, even with the best intentions of the world. Our most sensible policy is to stall.
To make it possible to carry out elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians negotiators would like to focus now not only on the first phase, but also about further redeployment.
Vis a vis the Golan Heights, the present government of Israel, under my leadership, is the first government that is ready to speak about a withdrawal.
We accept every form or way to talk to the Syrians how to achieve peace.
We appreciate the efforts of the United States, of the president, of the secretary of state, and we are ready to find any form of talks, but we have to overcome the differences between Syria and Israel to reach peace.
We are committed to free access and free practice, to the members of the other two religions, to the holy shrines in Jerusalem. To the Muslims, to the Christians.
We are dealing with organizations that are different from what we knew three years ago HAMAS and the Islamic Jihad.
We are ready to compromise. We are ready to take calculated risks, but for a peace that will give us security.
We do not celebrate the death of our enemies.
We had full normalization of life, embassies, open boundaries, before we completed a withdrawal to the agreed border of peace. With Syria, we didn't have the visit as we had with Egypt with President Sadat in Jerusalem.
We have a special commitment to Jordan, to the king of Jordan, that has maintained the responsibility of the holy shrines, to bring into our account a Jordan responsibility, to the holy shrines of the Muslims.
We have the right to ensure our security, especially when it is possible to reach agreement on a political solution.
We have to recognize that there is a Palestinian entity, that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority has to run their life.
We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.
We shall do everything in our power to see that they do not succeed, but there have already been five carbombs exploded by terrorists.
We started with the PLO leader, Chairman Arafat. It was followed by a peace treaty with Jordan that has got the longest border with Israel that any neighboring Arab country.
We want to put the peace into test before committing to a withdrawal to the line that we have not yet agreed on.
We were considered a partner-not equal to the U.S., but nevertheless a valuable ally in a vital region during times of crisis.
We will not leave the Golan Heights, not even in exchange for a peace treaty. We will be ready for a limited compromise and it does not have to be in territorial terms.
What I, as the prime minister of the present government of Israel, started to do, is first to tackle the longest part of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
What will be the future of Jerusalem? It's not the major issue.
Whatever was said about resolution 242, it is better that it will be read clearly. There is no mentioning of withdrawal from all territories. There is a withdrawal from territories. Therefore, the issue of territories is an issue for negotiations.
You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.
You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavoury enemies.
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