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Clinton at the
Waldorf Astoria Jan 07-2001
Greetings Watchers!
As promised, here is something
worth commenting on that concerns the End Times prophecies and the Mideast
today.
Those of you who have been
watching the Mideast from the position that is high above, and far enough away
from, that you could see the whole landscape of it, can really see some
prophecy being fulfilled today. As I have said many times, you can only view
the close up in it’s relationship to the whole, to make any sense of it.
So, from back there yonder,
where we sit, we can see the whole landscape, as time moves across it, and the
events of the time become apparent as to their role in the time, and their
place in prophecy. Then when you reach the time in history for the prophecy of
the 1st seal of revelation 6 to open and have peace spilling out onto the
landscape of the Mideast, the territory once occupied by the Medo-Persian
Empire, you will see it and know that it is the time. You will know it,
because scripture says that it was sealed until it’s time, so it would only
be seen if that seal were ready to be broken.
Jesus told the Jews that they
would know it by the signs of the times. By watching the prelude, the outcome
becomes clearly visible as to it’s course and reasoning. That’s the
increased knowledge of the times, brought about by the historical occurrences
of a series of events that set the course of destiny.
The landscape of the end times,
as painted in the end time scripture, has had time passing over it for
thousands of years, creeping, year by year toward a prophesied conclusion at
some point in the future. God told the Jews that the time of it was sealed,
and would remain a secret, until it’s time to be seen had come to pass. That
then, and only then, would the circumstances of the landscape be aligned with
His word, and it would be upon us. And if you weren’t watching, how it would
catch you like a thief in the night, but if you were watching, you would see
it coming, so could rejoice in your knowledge and spread the word.
The time for the closing of the
“grafted on branch’s” Covenant, and the time God returns His attention
to the Jews and Tribes, for the conclusion of their covenant, having removed
the obstacle that had occupied His attention, away from the focus of His
covenant with the “tree”, is our present time. Our immediate present time.
Now!
Many milestones along the way
have been reached, so our position on the Biblical time line could be compared
to real time. For instance, the “end times” could not have even been
viewed as having a place in history until Israel was once again in existence.
So, May 14, 1948 marked the day when one of God’s prophecies became history,
and a milestone on the way to the final days came to the surface for all to
see and make note of.
Today, the landscape of the
territory of Daniel’s “Bear”, Medo-Persia, is the Mideast. And the
Mideast is in exactly the set of circumstances, as if a time capsule had been
opened, it was in when the Jews were disbursed from the land. At the time they
were awaiting a Messiah, they were in Israel, they needed a temple, and they
needed a peace treaty with the old Roman Empire who were threatening their
very existence.
And, scripture tells us that
the core of the problem confronting the landscape in the end time is Jerusalem
and the Temple Mount. And scripture tells us that in that time, 10 kings from
out of the old Roman Empire would meet to decide, and all but three agree on
peace, and the three are uprooted, by an 11th king who grows up among them,
and is given a kingdom by the remainder of the 10. That 11th king is who
confirm the covenant peace that begins the final week of Daniel’s seventy
weeks.
The meeting of those 10 ancient
kings, over those exact concerns, was held at Sharam el Seif, where the
outcome was a vote for peace, among all 10 old Roman Empire nations attending,
except for three.
The man holding the single most
powerful job in the world, takes center stage at a Jewish Gala, in New York
City, and laid down the terms of the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Daniel.
And, he warns that since war means annihilation, peace is the only option, and
no matter what generation in the future you push this peace off to, when you
get there, the problem will still be the same, only there would be less chance
for peace then, because the abbess would be festered to an even greater
degree.
He calls for both sides to
compromise. And here’s the fulfillment of prophecy, Compromise Temple Mount,
Compromise Jerusalem and Compromise our faith.
The only way one could miss
this as being the end time landscape, is to be unaware of the existence of an
end time landscape.
The time to watch closely is
now. Not for peace, that’s already history as far as we are concerned, it’s
going to happen. If not this time, then maybe the next time, we can’t narrow
it down any closer than that, except for one thing. And that’s the thing to
watch for next. The Feast of Firstfruits in the Spring, and the Dead in Christ
rising.
We will never see the peace
declared. The gesture that makes the Little Horn the Prince of Peace is a last
minute thing, that becomes known after the Rapture. I think it’s what
solidifies the peace and makes it a deal that everyone can live with. And, I
think that what makes most sense, and this is purely speculation on my part,
but what makes most sense, is that a deal is cut to return some part of Jordan
back to the Palestinians for their homeland, with Jerusalem an open city, and
capital to both and a shared temple mount, in return for Iraq replaced under
Hashemite rule.
I think that Saddam is mounting
his troops on Jordan's border because he smells that, and is ready to do what
ever is necessary to kill Jordan and the Jews, and Syria and Libya are acting
like they are backing him. Therein you have the uprooting ready to happen.
But, as in Desert Storm, the Israelis will be asked to stay out of it. But,
that won’t come until after the peace. Then that local war that uproots the
dissenters and replaces them with friendlier clients. Remember, Israel, Saudi
Arabia and Jordan are overflowing with our weapons stores, just waiting to
settle with dissenters to the peace.
But, it will be the Hashemite
King who provided the homeland and sanctions the bi occupation of the mount
that gets the credit for having brought about peace. Clinton will get the
medal, but the King will get the crown!
But, don’t take my word for
it, read it from the mouth of President Bill Clinton.
Transcript of President Bill
Clinton Remarks at the Israel Policy Forum Gala Sunday evening 7
Jan. The Waldorf Astoria Hotel - New York, New York - 9:45pm EST,
7 January:
Thank you very much. Thank you.
(Applause.) I want to thank all of you for making me feel so welcome tonight,
and also for making Hillary and Chelsea feel welcome. I thank Michael
Sonnenfeldt who, like me, is going out after eight years -- (laughter) -- and
will doubtless find some other useful activity. But he has done a superb job,
and I'm very grateful to him. (Applause.)
I thank my friend, Jack
Bendheim, for his many kindnesses to me and to Hillary. Yesterday, he had a
birthday and now, like me, he's 54. Unlike me, he has enough children to be
elected President of the United States. (Laughter.) And he's had a
wonderful family and a wonderful life, and I'm delighted that he's so active
in the Israel Policy Forum. (Applause.) I'd like to thank Judith Stern Peck
for making me feel so welcome and for her leadership.
I thank Lesley Stahl; it's good
to see you, and thank you for your kind remarks. I thank the many members of
Congress who are here; and also the members of my Middle East peace team,
Secretary Albright and Sandy Berger and others have been introduced. But
Secretary Dan Glickman is here and Kerry Kennedy Cuomo is here, and I thank
them for being here. (Applause.)
I want to thank the New York
officials who are here -- Carl McCall, Mark Green and any others who may be in
the crowd for your many kindnesses to me over the last eight years. New
York has been great to me and Al Gore and even greater to my wife on Election
Day, so I thank you for that. (Applause.)
We just reenacted her
swearing-in at Madison Square Garden. And I was reminded of one of the many
advantages of living in New York -- Jessye Norman sang, Toni Morrison read and
Billy Joel sang. Meanwhile, at least at half time, the Giants were ahead.
(Laughter and applause.) And so I said, I felt sort of like Garrison Keillor
did about Lake Wobegone. I was glad to be in New York where all the writers,
artists and sports teams were above average -- (laughter) -- and all the votes
were always counted. (Applause.)
Let me also say a word of warm
welcome and profound respect to the Speaker of the Knesset, Speaker Burg, for
his wonderful and kind comments to me. (Applause.) And to Cabinet
Secretary Herzog, for his message from the government of Israel. I want to say
a little more about that in a moment.
I want to congratulate Dwayne
Andreas, my good friend -- I wish he were here tonight -- and thank him for
his many kindnesses to me. Congratulations, Louis Perlmutter; Susan Stern who
has been such a great friend to Hillary, and you gave a good talk tonight, I
think you've got a real future in this business. And your mother sat by me and
she gave you a good grade, too. (Laughter.)
And Alan Solomont, who has done
as much for me as I suppose any American, and he and Susan and their children
have been great friends, and I thank you for what you've done, sir. I thank
all of you. (Applause.)
I'd also like to say how much I
appreciated and was moved by the words of Prime Minister Barak. He was dealt
the hard hand by history. And he came to office with absolute conviction that
in the end, Israel could not be secure unless a just and lasting peace could
be reached with its neighbors, beginning with the Palestinians. That if that
turned out not to be possible, then the next best thing was to be as strong as
possible and as effective in the use of that strength.
But his knowledge of war has
fed a passion for peace. And his understanding of the changing technology of
war has made him more passionate, not because he thinks the existence of
Israel is less secure -- if anything, it's more secure -- but because the
sophisticated weapons available to terrorists today mean even though they
still lose, they can exact a higher price along the way.
I've been in enough political
fights in my life to know that sometimes you just have to do the right thing
-- and it may work out and it may not. Most people thought I had lost my mind
when we passed the economic plan to get rid of the deficit in 1993. And no one
in the other party voted for it, and they just talked about how it would bring
the world to an end and America's economy would be a disaster. I think the
only Republican who thought it would work was Alan Greenspan. (Laughter.) He
was relieved of the burden of having to say anything about it.
But no dilemma I have ever
faced approximates in difficulty or comes close to the choice that Prime
Minister Barak had to make when he took office. He realized that he couldn't
know for sure what the final intentions of the Palestinian leadership were
without testing them. He further realized that even if the intentions were
there, there was a lot of competition among the Palestinians and from outside
forces, from people who are enemies of peace because they don't give a rip how
the ordinary Palestinians have to live and they're pursuing a whole different
agenda.
He knew nine things could go
wrong and only one thing could go right. But he promised himself that he would
have to try. And as long as he knew Israel in the end could defend itself and
maintain its security, he would keep taking risks. And that's what he's done,
down to these days. There may be those who disagree with him, but he has
demonstrated as much bravery in the office of Prime Minister as he ever did on
the field of battle and no one should ever question that. (Applause.)
Now, I imagine this has been a
tough time for those of you who have been supporting the IPF, out of
conviction for a long time. All the dreams we had in '93 that were revived
when we had the peace with Jordan, revived again when we had the Wye River
accords -- that was, I think, the most interesting peace talks I was ever
involved in. My strategy was the same used to break prisoners of war, I just
didn't let anybody sleep for nine days and, finally, out of exhaustion, we
made a deal -- just so people could go home and go to bed. (Laughter.) I've
been looking for an opportunity to employ it again, ever since.
There have been a lot of
positive things, and I think it's worth remembering that there have been
positive developments along the way. But this is heartbreaking, what we've
been through these last few months, for all of you who have believed for eight
years in the Oslo process; all of you who's hearts soared on September 19,
1993, when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed that agreement.
For over three months we have
lived through a tragic cycle of violence that has cost hundreds of lives. It
has shattered the confidence in the peace process. It has raised questions in
some people's minds about whether Palestinians and Israelis could ever really
live and work together, support each other's peace and prosperity and
security. It's been a heartbreaking time for me, too. But we have done our
best to work with the parties to restore calm, to end the bloodshed and to get
back to working on an agreement to address the underlying causes that
continuously erupt in conflicts.
Whatever happens in the next
two weeks I've got to serve, I think it's appropriate for me tonight, before a
group of Americans and friends from the Middle East who believe profoundly in
the peace process and have put their time and heart and money where their
words are, to reflect on the lessons I believe we've all learned over the last
eight years, and how we can achieve the long sought peace.
>From my first day as
President, we have worked to advance interests in the Middle East that are
long standing and historically bipartisan. I was glad to hear of Senator
Hagel's recitation of President-elect Bush's commitment to peace in the Middle
East. Those historic commitments include an ironclad commitment to Israel's
security and a just, comprehensive and lasting agreement between the
Palestinians and Israelis.
Along the way since '93,
through the positive agreements that have been reached between those two
sides, through the peace between Israel and Jordan, through last summer's
withdrawal from Lebanon in which Israel fulfilled its part of implementing
U.N. Security Counsel resolution 425 -- along this way we have learned some
important lessons, not only because of the benchmarks of progress, because of
the occasional eruption of terrorism, bombing, death and then these months of
conflict.
I think these lessons have to
guide any effort, now or in the future, to reach a comprehensive peace. Here's
what I think they are. Most of you probably believed in them, up to the last
three months. I still do. First, the Arab-Israeli conflict is not just a
morality play between good and evil. It is a conflict with a
complex history, whose resolution requires balancing the needs of both sides,
including respect for their national identities and religious beliefs.
Second, there is no place for
violence, and no military solution to this conflict. The only path to a just
and durable resolution is through negotiation. Third, there will be no lasting
peace or regional stability without a strong and secure Israel, secure enough
to make peace, strong enough to deter the adversaries which will still be
there, even if a peace is made in complete good faith. And clearly that is why
the United States must maintain its commitment to preserving Israel's
qualitative edge in military superiority.
Fourth, talks must be
accompanied by acts -- acts which show trust and partnership. For goodwill at
the negotiating table cannot survive forever ill intent on the ground. And it
is important that each side understands how the other reads actions.
For example, on the one hand,
the tolerance of violence and incitement of hatred in classrooms and the media
in the Palestinian communities, or on the other hand, humiliating treatment on
the streets or at checkpoints by Israelis are real obstacles to even getting
people to talk about building a genuine peace.
Fifth, in the resolution of
remaining differences, whether they come today or after several years of
heartbreak and bloodshed, the fundamental, painful, but necessary choices will
almost certainly remain the same whenever the decision is made. The parties
will face the same history, the same geography, the same neighbors, the same
passions, the same hatreds. This is not a problem time will take care of.
And I would just like to go off
the script here, because a lot of you have more personal contacts than I do
with people that will be dealing with this for a long time to come, whatever
happens in the next two weeks.
Among the really profound and
difficult problems of the world that I have dealt with, I find that they tend
to fall into two categories. And if I could use sort of a medical analogy,
some are like old wounds with scabs on them, and some are like abscessed
teeth.
What do I mean by that? Old
wounds with scabs eventually will heal if you just leave them alone. And if
you fool with them too much, you might open the scab and make them worse.
Abscessed teeth, however, will only get worse if you leave them alone, and if
you wait and wait and wait, they'll just infect the whole rest of your mouth.
Northern Ireland, I believe, is
becoming more like the scab. There are very difficult things. If you followed
my trip over there, you know I was trying to help them resolve some of their
outstanding problems, and we didn't get it all done. But what I really wanted
to do was to remind people of the benefits of peace and to keep everybody in a
good frame of mind and going on so that all the politicians know that if they
really let the wheel run off over there, the people will throw them out on
their ears.
Now, why is that? Because the
Irish Republic is now the fastest-growing economy in Europe, and Northern
Ireland is the fastest-growing economy within the United Kingdom. So the
people are benefitting from peace, and they can live with the fact that they
can't quite figure out what to do about the police force and the
reconciliation of the various interests and passions of the Protestants and
Catholics. And the other three or four things. Because the underlying reality
has changed their lives.
So even though I wish I could
solve it all, eventually it will heal, if it just keeps going in the same
direction. The Middle East is not like that.
Why? Because there are all
these independent actors -- that is, independent of the Palestinian Authority
and not under the direct control of any international legal body -- who don't
want this peace to work. So that even if we can get an agreement, and the
Palestinian Authority works as hard as they can, and the Israelis works as
hard as they can, we're all going to have to pitch in, send in an
international force like we did in the Sinai, and hang tough, because there
are enemies of peace out there, number one.
Number two, because the enemies
of peace know they can drive the Israelis to close the borders if they can
blow up enough bombs. They do it periodically to make sure that the
Palestinians in the street cannot enjoy the benefits of peace that have come
to the people in Northern Ireland. So as long as they can keep the people
miserable, and they can keep the fundamental decisions from being made, they
still have a hope, the enemies of peace, of derailing the whole thing. That's
why it's more like an abscessed tooth.
The fundamental realities are
not going to be changed by delays. And that's why I said what I did about Ehud
Barak. I know that -- I don't think it's appropriate for the United States to
deal with anybody else's politics, but I know why -- you can't expect poll
ratings to be very good when the voters in the moment wonder if they're going
to get peace or security, and think they can no longer have both and may have
to choose one. I understand that.
But I'm telling you, the reason
he has continued to push ahead on this is that he has figured out, this is one
of those political problems that is like the abscessed tooth. The realities
are not going to change. We can wait until all these handsome young people at
this table are the same age as the honorees tonight, and me, we can wait until
they've got kids their age, and we've got a whole lot more bodies and a lot
more funerals, a lot more crying and a lot more hatred, and I'll swear the
decisions will still be the same ones that will have to be made that have to
be made today.
That's the fundamental deal
here. And this is a speech I have given, I might add, to all my Israeli
friends who question what we have done, and to the Palestinians. And in
private, God forgive me, my language is sometimes somewhat more graphic than
it has been tonight. But anybody that ever kneeled at the grave of a person
who died in the Middle East knows that what we've been through these last
three months is not what Yitzhak Rabin died for and not what I went to Gaza
two years ago to speak to the Palestinian National Council for either, for
that matter.
So those are the lessons I
think are still operative, and I'm a little concerned that we could draw the
wrong lessons from this tragic, still relatively brief, chapter in the history
of the Middle East. The violence does not demonstrate that the quest for peace
has gone too far or too fast. It demonstrates what happens when you've
got a problem that is profoundly difficult and you never quite get to the end,
so there is no settlement, no resolution, anxiety prevailed, and at least some
people never get any concrete benefits out of it.
And I believe that the last few
months demonstrate the futility of force or terrorism as an ultimate solution;
that's what I believe. (Applause.) I think the last few months show that
unilateralism will exacerbate, not abate, mutual hostility. I believe that the
violence confirms the need to do more to prepare both publics for the
requirements of peace, not to condition people for the so-called glory of
further conflict.
Now, what are we going to do
now? The first priority, obviously, has got to be to drastically reduce the
current cycle of violence. But beyond that, on the Palestinian side, there
must be an end to the culture of violence and the culture of incitement that,
since Oslo, has not gone unchecked. (Applause.) Young children still are being
educated to believe in confrontation with Israel, and multiple militia-like
groups carry and use weapons with impunity. Voices of reason in that kind of
environment will be drowned out too often by voices of revenge.
Such conduct is inconsistent
with the Palestinian leadership's commitment to Oslo's nonviolent path to
peace and its persistence sends the wrong message to the Israeli people, and
makes it much more difficult for them to support their leaders in making the
compromises necessary to get a lasting agreement.
For their part, the Israeli
people also must understand that they're creating a few problems, too; that
the settlement enterprise and building bypass roads in the heart of what they
already know will one day be part of a Palestinian state is inconsistent with
the Oslo commitment that both sides negotiate a compromise. (Applause.)
And restoring confidence
requires the Palestinians being able to lead a normal existence, and not be
subject to daily, often humiliating reminders that they lack basic freedom and
control over their lives.
These, too, make it harder for
the Palestinians to believe the commitments made to them will be kept. Can two
peoples with this kind of present trouble and troubling history still conclude
a genuine and lasting peace? I mean, if I gave you this as a soap opera, you
would say they're going to divorce court. But they can't, because they share
such a small piece of land with such a profound history of importance to more
than a billion people around the world. So I believe with all my heart not
only that they can, but that they must.
At Camp David, I saw Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators who knew how many children each other had, who
knew how many grandchildren each other had, who knew how they met their
spouses, who knew what their family tragedies were, who trusted each other in
their word. It was almost shocking to see what could happen and how people
still felt on the ground when I saw how their leaders felt about each other
and the respect and the confidence they had in each other when they were
talking.
The alternative to getting this
peace done is being played out before our very eyes. But amidst the agony, I
will say again, there are signs of hope. And let me try to put
this into what I think is a realistic context.
Camp David was a transformative
event, because the two sides faced the core issue of their dispute in a forum
that was official for the first time. And they had to debate the tradeoffs
required to resolve the issues. Just as Oslo forced Israelis and Palestinians
to come to terms with each other's existence, the discussions of the past six
months have forced them to come to terms with each other's needs and the
contours of a peace that ultimately they will have to reach.
That's why Prime Minister Barak,
I think, has demonstrated real courage and vision in moving toward peace in
difficult circumstances while trying to find a way to continue to protect
Israel's security and vital interests.
So that's a fancy way of saying
we know what we have to do and we've got a mess on our hands. So where do we
go from here? Given the impasse and the tragic deterioration on the ground, a
couple of weeks ago both sides asked me to present my ideas. So I put forward
parameters that I wanted to be guide toward a comprehensive agreement;
parameters based on eight years of listening carefully to both sides and
hearing them describe with increasing clarity their respective grievances and
needs.
Both Prime Minister Barak and
Chairman Arafat have now accepted these parameters as the basis for further
efforts. Both have expressed some reservations. At their request, I am using
my remaining time in office to narrow the differences between the parties to
the greatest degree possible. (Applause.) For which I deserve no
applause. Believe me, it beats packing up all my old books. (Laughter.)
The parameters I put forward
contemplate a settlement in response to each side's essential needs, if not to
their utmost desires. A settlement based on sovereign homelands, security,
peace and dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians. These parameters don't
begin to answer every question, they just narrow the questions that have to be
answered.
Here they are. First, I think
there can be no genuine resolution to the conflict without a sovereign,
viable, Palestinian state that accommodates Israeli's security requirements
and the demographic realities. That suggests Palestinian sovereignty over
Gaza, the vast majority of the West Bank, the incorporation into Israel of
settlement blocks, with the goal of maximizing the number of settlers in
Israel while minimizing the land annex for Palestine to be viable must be a
geographically contiguous state. (Applause.)
Now, the land annexed into
Israel into settlement blocks should include as few Palestinians as possible,
consistent with the logic of two separate homelands. And to make the agreement
durable, I think there will have to be some territorial swaps and other
arrangements.
Second, a solution will have to
be found for the Palestinian refugees who have suffered a great deal --
particularly some of them. A solution that allows them to return to a
Palestinian state that will provide all Palestinians with a place they can
safely and proudly call home. All Palestinian refugees who wish to live in
this homeland should have the right to do so. All others who want to find new
homes, whether in their current locations or in third countries, should be
able to do so, consistent with those countries' sovereign decisions. And that
includes Israel.
All refugees should receive
compensation from the international community for their losses, and assistance
in building new lives.
Now, you all know what the rub
is. That was a lot of artful language for saying that you cannot expect Israel
to acknowledge an unlimited right of return to present day Israel, and at the
same time, to give up Gaza and the West Bank and have the settlement blocks as
compact as possible, because of where a lot of these refugees came from. We
cannot expect Israel to make a decision that would threaten the very
foundations of the state of Israel, and would undermine the whole logic of
peace. And it shouldn't be done. (Applause.)
But I have made it very clear
that the refugees will be a high priority, and that the United States will
take a lead in raising the money necessary to relocate them in the most
appropriate manner. (Applause.) If the government of Israel or a subsequent
government of Israel ever -- will be in charge of their immigration policy,
just as we and the Canadians and the Europeans and others who would offer
Palestinians a home would be, they would be obviously free to do that, and I
think they've indicated that they would do that, to some extent. But there
cannot be an unlimited language in an agreement that would undermine the very
foundations of the Israeli state or the whole reason for creating the
Palestinian state. (Applause.) So that's what we're working on.
Third, there will be no peace,
and no peace agreement, unless the Israeli people have lasting security
guarantees. (Applause.) These need not and should not come at the expense of
Palestinian sovereignty, or interfere with Palestinian territorial integrity.
So my parameters rely on an international presence in Palestine to provide
border security along the Jordan Valley and to monitor implementation of the
final agreement. They rely on a non-militarized Palestine, a phased Israeli
withdrawal, to address Israeli security needs in the Jordan Valley, and other
essential arrangements to ensure Israel's ability to defend itself.
Fourth, I come to the issue of
Jerusalem, perhaps the most emotional and sensitive of all. It is a historic,
cultural and political center for both Israelis and Palestinians, a unique
city sacred to all three monotheistic religions. And I believe the parameters
I have established flow from four fair and logical propositions.
First, Jerusalem should be an
open and undivided city, with assured freedom of access and worship for all.
It should encompass the internationally recognized capitals of two states,
Israel and Palestine. Second, what is Arab should be Palestinian, for why
would Israel want to govern in perpetuity the lives of hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians? Third, what is Jewish should be Israeli. That would give rise
to a Jewish Jerusalem, larger and more vibrant than any in history.
Fourth, what is holy to both
requires a special care to meet the needs of all. I was glad to hear what the
Speaker said about that. No peace agreement will last if not premised on
mutual respect for the religious beliefs and holy shrines of Jews, Muslims and
Christians.
I have offered formulations on
the Haram Ash-Shareef, and the area holy to the Jewish people, an area which
for 2,000 years, as I said at Camp David, has been the focus of Jewish
yearning, that I believed fairly addressed the concerns of both sides.
Fifth and, finally, any
agreement will have to mark the decision to end the conflict, for neither side
can afford to make these painful compromises, only to be subjected to further
demands. They are both entitled to know that if they take the last drop of
blood out of each other's turnip, that's it. It really will have to be the end
of the struggle that has pitted Palestinians and Israelis against one another
for too long. And the end of the conflict must manifest itself with concrete
acts that demonstrate a new attitude and a new approach by Palestinians and
Israelis toward each other, and by other states in the region toward Israel,
and by the entire region toward Palestine, to help it get off to a good start.
The parties' experience with
interim accords has not always been happy -- too many deadlines missed, too
many commitments unfulfilled on both sides. So for this to signify a real end
of the conflict, there must be effective mechanisms to provide guarantees of
implementation. That's a lot of stuff, isn't it? It's what I think is the
outline of a fair agreement. (Applause.)
Let me say this, I am well
aware that it will entail real pain and sacrifices for both sides. I am well
aware that I don't even have to run for reelection in the United States on the
basis of these ideas. I have worked for eight years without laying such ideas
down. I did it only when both sides asked me to, and when it was obvious that
we had come to the end of the road, and somebody had to do something to break
out of the impasse.
Now, I still think the benefits
of the agreement, based on these parameters, far outweigh the burdens. For the
people of Israel, they are an end to conflict, secure and defensible borders,
the incorporation of most of the settlers into Israel, and the Jewish capital
of Jerusalaem, recognized by all, not just the United States, by everybody in
the world. It's a big deal, and it needs to be done. (Applause.)
For the Palestinian people, it
means the freedom to determine their own future on their own land, a new life
for the refugees, an independent and sovereign state with al Quds as its
capital, recognized by all. (Applause.) And for America, it means that we
could have new flags flying over new embassies in both these capitals.
(Applause.)
Now that the sides have
accepted the parameters with reservations, what's going to happen? Well, each
side will try to do a little better than I did. (Laughter.) You
know, that's just natural. But a peace viewed as imposed by one party upon the
other, that puts one side up and the other down, rather than both ahead,
contains the seeds of its own destruction.
Let me say those who believe
that my ideas can be altered to one party's exclusive benefit are mistaken. I
think to press for more will produce less. There can be no peace without
compromise. Now, I don't ask Israelis or Palestinians to agree with everything
I said. If they can come up with a completely different agreement, it would
suit me just fine. But I doubt it.
I have said what I have out of
a profound lifetime commitment to and love for the state of Israel, out of a
conviction that the Palestinian people have been ignored or used as political
footballs by others for long enough, and they ought to have a chance to make
their own life with dignity. (Applause.) And out of a belief that in the
homeland of the world's three great religions that believe we are all the
creatures of one God, we ought to be able to prove that one person's win is
not, by definition, another's loss; that one person's dignity is not, by
definition, another's humiliation; that one person's work of God is not, by
definition, another's heresy. There has to be a way for us to find a truth we
can share. (Applause.)
There has to be a way for us to
reach those young Palestinian kids who, unlike the young people in this
audience, don't imagine a future in which they would ever put on clothes like
this and sit at a dinner like this.
There has to be a way for us to
say to them, struggle and pain and destruction and self-destruction are way
overrated, and not the only option. There has to be a way for us
to reach those people in Israel who have paid such a high price and believe,
frankly, that people who embrace the ideas I just outlined are nuts, because
Israel is a little country and this agreement would make it smaller; to
understand that the world in which we live and the technology of modern
weaponry no longer make defense primarily a matter of geography and of
politics and the human feeling and the interdependence and the cooperation and
the shared values and the shared interests are more important and worth the
considered risk, especially if the United States remains committed to the
military capacity of the state of Israel. (Applause.)
So I say to the Palestinians:
there will always be those who are sitting outside in the peanut gallery of
the Middle East, urging you to hold out for more, or to plant one more bomb.
But all the people who do that, they're not the refugees languishing in those
camps -- you are. They're not the ones with children growing up in poverty
whose income is lower today than it was the day we had the signing on the
White House Lawn in 1993 -- you are.
All the people that are saying
to the Palestinian people: Stay on the path of no, are people that have a
vested interest in the failure of the peace process that has nothing to do
with how those kids in Gaza and the West Bank are going to grow up and live
and raise their own children. (Applause.)
To the citizens of Israel who
have returned to an ancient homeland after 2,000 years, whose hopes and dreams
almost vanished in the Holocaust, who have hardly had one day of peace and
quiet since the state of Israel was created, I understand, I believe,
something of the disillusionment, the anger, the frustration that so many feel
when, just at the moment peace seemed within reach, all this violence broke
out and raised the question of
whether it is ever possible.
The fact is that the people of
Israel dreamed of a homeland. The dream came through; but when they came home,
the land was not all vacant. Your land is also their land, it is the homeland
of two people. And, therefore, there is no choice but to create two states and
make the best of it.
If it happens today, it will be
better than if it happens tomorrow, because fewer people will die. And after
it happens, the motives of those who continue the violence will be clearer to
all than they are today.
Today, Israel is closer than
ever to ending a 100-year-long era of struggle. It could be
Israel's finest hour. And I hope and pray that the people of Israel will not
give up the hope of peace.
Now, I've got 13 days and I'll
do what I can. We're working with Egypt and the parties to try to end the
violence. I'm sending Dennis Ross to the region this week. I met with both
sides this week. I hope we can really do something. And I appreciate more than
I can say the kind, personal things that you said about me.
But here's what I want you to
think about. New York has its own high-tech corridor called "Silicon
Alley." The number one foreign recipient of venture capital from Silicon
Alley is Israel. Palestinians who have come to the United States, to Chile, to
Canada, to Europe, have done fabulously well -- in business, in the sciences,
in academia.
If we could ever let a lot of
this stuff go and realize that a lot of -- that the enemies of peace in the
Middle East are overlooking not only what the Jewish people have done beyond
Israel, but what has happened to the state of Israel since its birth, and how
fabulously well the people of Palestinian descent have done everywhere else in
the world except in their homeland, where they are in the grip of forces that
have not permitted them to reconcile with one another and with the people of
Israel -- listen, if you guys ever got together, 10 years from now we would
all wonder what the heck happened for 30 years before.
And the center of energy and
creativity and economic power and political influence in the entire region
would be with the Israelis and the Palestinians because of their gifts. It
could happen. But somebody has got to take the long leap, and they have to be
somebodies on both sides.
All I can tell you is, whether
you do it now or whether you do it later, whether I'm the President or just
somebody in the peanut gallery, I'll be there, cheering and praying and
working along the way. (Applause.) And I think America will be there. I think
America will always be there for Israel's security. But Israel's lasting
security rests in a just and lasting peace. I pray that the day will come
sooner, rather than later, where all the people of the region will see that
they can share the wisdom of God in their common humanity and give up their
conflict.
Thank you and God bless you.
(Applause.) My sincerest and humblest thanks to those who are helping me. You
know that I know who you are, and how much I love you for it. Keep it up.
Thank you for listening and
God bless all of you.
God bless.
Humbly,
Your Brother in Christ
Sal from CHN
"The Prophecy of Daniel The Book of Revelation
The Rapture of the Church and the Mideast Today"
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