DEVELOPMENTS RELATED TO THE MIDDLE EAST
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Remarks by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv peace rally,
4 November 1995 1
Remarks by President Clinton at the state funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
Jerusalem, 6 November 1995 2
Text of statement on the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin issued by the
Palestinian Ministry of Information, Gaza, 6 November 1995 4
The Middle East peace process: Chronology of meetings 5
Notes 8
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Since April 1991, at the request of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat has prepared a compilation of statements, declarations, documents and other material pertaining to the various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the question of Palestine and the Middle East peace process entitled "Approaches towards the settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the question of Palestine".
In January 1994, the bulletin was renamed "Developments related to the Middle East peace process". It includes information material related to the bilateral Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, the multilateral negotiations on Middle East regional issues, and other aspects of the Middle East peace process.
This issue covers the month of November 1995.
The electronic version of the present and back issues of this publication can be
obtained through the United Nations Information System on the Question of
Palestine (UNISPAL) at the Division for Palestinian Rights.
To access UNISPAL BBS dial: 1-212-963-7197.
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Remarks by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv peace rally,
The following are last remarks made by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on 4 November 1995, at the peace rally held in Tel Aviv's Malchey Yisrael square:
"Permit me to say that I am deeply moved. I wish to thank each and every one of you, who have come here today to take a stand against violence and for peace. This government, which I am privileged to head, together with my friend Shimon Peres, decided to give peace a chance -a peace that will solve most of Israel's problems.
"I was a military man for 27 years. I fought so long as there was no chance for peace. I believe that there is now a chance for peace, a great chance. We must take advantage of it for the sake of those standing here, and for those who are not here – and they are many.
"I have always believed that the majority of the people want peace and are ready to take risks for peace. In coming here today, you demonstrate, together with many others who did not come, that the people truly desire peace and oppose violence. Violence erodes the basis of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned and isolated. This is not the way of the State of Israel. In a democracy there can be differences, but the final decision will be taken in democratic elections, as the 1992 elections which gave us the mandate to do what we are doing, and to continue on this course.
"I want to say that I am proud of the fact that representatives of the countries with whom we are living in peace are present with us here, and will continue to be here: Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, which opened the road to peace for us. I want to thank the President of Egypt, the King of Jordan, and the King of Morocco, represented here today, for their partnership with us in our march towards peace.
"But, more than anything, in the more than three years of this Government's existence, the Israeli people has proven that it is possible to make peace, that peace opens the door to a better economy and society; that peace is not just a prayer. Peace is first of all in our prayers, but it is also the aspiration of the Jewish people, a genuine aspiration for peace.
"There are enemies of peace who are trying to hurt us, in order to torpedo the peace process. I want to say bluntly, that we have found a partner for peace among the Palestinians as well: the PLO, which was an enemy, and has ceased to engage in terrorism. Without partners for peace, there can be no peace. We will demand that they do their part for peace, just as we will do our part for peace, in order to solve the most complicated, prolonged, and emotionally charged aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"This is a course which is fraught with difficulties and pain. For Israel, there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war. I say this to you as one who was a military man, someone who is today Minister of Defence and sees the pain of the families of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] soldiers. For them, for our children, in my case for our grandchildren, I want this Government to exhaust every opening, every possibility, to promote and achieve a comprehensive peace. Even with Syria, it will be possible to make peace.
"This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace. For this, I thank you."1
Remarks by President Clinton at the state funeral of
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
Jerusalem, 6 November 1995
On 6 November 1995, at Jerusalem, during the state funeral ceremony for Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin, the following remarks were made by the United States President Bill Clinton:
"Lea, to the Rabin children and grandchildren and other family members, President Weizman, Acting Prime Minister Peres, members of the Israeli government and the Knesset, distinguished leaders from the Middle East and around the world, especially His Majesty King Hussein for those remarkable and wonderful comments, and President Mubarak for taking this historic trip here. And to all the people of Israel.
"The American people mourn with you in the loss of your leader. And I mourn with you, for he was my partner and friend. Every moment we shared was a joy because he was a good man and an inspiration because he was also a great man.
"Lea, I know that too many times in the life of this country you were called upon to comfort and console the mothers and the fathers, the husbands and the wives, the sons and the daughters who lost their loved ones to violence and vengeance. You gave them strength. Now, we here and millions of people all around the world in all humility and honour offer you our strength. May God comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
"Yitzhak Rabin lived the history of Israel. Through every trial and triumph — the struggle for independence, the wars for survival, the pursuit of peace, and all he served on the front lines — this Son of David and of Solomon took up arms to defend Israel's freedom and laid down his life to secure Israel's future.
"He was a man completely without pretense, as all of his friends knew. I read that in 1949, after the War of Independence, David Ben Gurion sent him to represent Israel at the armistice talks at Rhodes, and he had never before worn a necktie, and did not know how to tie the knot. So the problem was solved by a friend who tied it for him before he left and showed him how to preserve the knot simply by loosening the tie and pulling it over his head.
"Well, the last time we were together, not two weeks ago, he showed up for a black-tie event on time but without the black tie. And so he borrowed a tie, and I was privileged to straighten it for him. It is a moment I will cherish as long as I live.
"To him, ceremonies and words were less important than actions and deeds. Six weeks ago, the King and President Mubarak will remember, we were at the White House for signing the Israel-Palestinian agreement. And a lot of people spoke. I spoke, the King spoke, Chairman Arafat spoke, President Mubarak spoke, our foreign ministers all spoke. And finally Prime Minister Rabin got up to speak and he said, "First, the good news — I am the last speaker."
"But he also understood the power of words and symbolism. "Take a look at the stage," he said in Washington, "the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt, Chairman Arafat, and us, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel, on one platform. Please take a good, hard look. The sight you see before you was impossible, was unthinkable just three years ago. Only poets dreamt of it. And to our great pain, soldier and civilian went to their deaths to make this moment possible." Those were his words.
"Today, my fellow citizens of the world, I ask all of you to take a good, hard look at this picture. Look at the leaders from all over the Middle East and around the world who have journeyed here today for Yitzhak Rabin and for peace. Though we no longer hear his deep and booming voice, it is he who has brought us together again here in word and deed for peace.
"Now, it falls to all of us who love peace and all of us who loved him to carry on the struggle to which he gave life and for which he gave his life. He cleared the path and his spirit continues to light the way. His spirit lives on in the growing peace between Israel and her neighbours. It lives in the eyes of the children, the Jewish and the Arab children who are leaving behind a past of fear for a future of hope. It lives on in a promise of true security.
"So let me say to the people of Israel, even in your hour of darkness, his spirit lives on, and so you must not lose your spirit. Look at what you have accomplished — making a once barren desert bloom, building a thriving democracy in a hostile terrain, winning battles and wars and now winning the peace, which is the only enduring victory.
"Your Prime Minister was a martyr for peace, but he was a victim of hate. Surely we must learn from his martyrdom that if people cannot let go of the hatred of their enemies, they risk sowing the seeds of hatred among themselves.
"I ask you, the people of Israel, on behalf of my nation that knows its own long litany of loss, from Abraham Lincoln to President Kennedy to Martin Luther King, do not let that happen to you.
"In the Knesset, in your homes, in your places of worship, stay the righteous course. As Moses said to the children of Israel, when he knew he would not cross over into the promised land, "be strong and of good courage, fear not for God will go with you. He will not fail you. He will not forsake you."
"President Weizman, Acting Prime Minister Peres, to all the people of Israel, as you stay the course of peace, I make this pledge: Neither will America forsake you.
"Legend has it that in every generation of Jews from time immemorial, a just leader emerged to protect his people and show them the way to safety. Prime Minister Rabin was such a leader. He knew as he declared to the world on the White House lawn two years ago, that the time had come, in his words, "to begin a new reckoning in the relations between people, between parents tired of war, between children who will not know war." Here in Jerusalem, I believe with perfect faiths that he was leading his people to that promised land.
"This week, Jews all around the world are studying the Torah portion in which God tests the faith of Abraham, patriarch of the Jews and the Arabs. He commands Abraham to sacrifice Yitzhak. "Take your son, the one you love, Yitzhak." As we all know, as Abraham in loyalty to God was about to kill his son, God spared Yitzhak. Now, God tests our faith even more terribly, for he has taken our Yitzhak.
"But Israel's covenant with God — for freedom, for tolerance, for security, for peace, that covenant must hold. That covenant was Prime Minister Rabin's life's work. Now, we must make it his lasting legacy. His spirit must live on in us.
"The Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for mourning, never speaks of death, but often speaks of peace. In its closing words, "May our hearts find a measure of comfort and our souls the eternal touch of hope." "Oseh shalom bimromov hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol Yisrael, ve'imru amen." And shalom chaver."2
Text of statement on the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Information,
On 6 November 1995, in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Information issued the following statement on the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin:
"The Palestinian Ministry of Information reiterates President Arafats condemnation on the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, who was ruthlessly killed by an Israeli fanatic settler Yigal Amir, on 4 November 1995. The bullets that assassinated Rabin were also aimed at killing the peace process and democracy within the Israeli society.
"For a long time, the likes of Yigal Amir and those within the right wing Israeli camp have perpetrated different forms of terror against the Palestinian people. It is a rare occurrence that one day would pass without committing a horrifying crime against innocent civilians. Unfortunately, the daily humiliation of people, the plundering of land, and vandalism, were the slogan of their crimes which went unpunished by the current Government. The culprits were even rewarded and treated as heroes whenever such crimes against the Palestinian people occurred, such as the Hebron massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein. The official silence and collusion toward such crimes has backfired, this time to hit the top of the political hierarchy in Israel.
"Undoubtedly, the vicious assassination of Rabin denounced by the world, has put the Israeli people, its Government and political parties before big challenges ahead, including:
"First: The challenges of peace, which recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, the prerequisites of coexistence among the peoples of the region in accordance with international legitimacy which require an honest and speedy implementation of the agreements on the ground.
"Second: The challenges of democracy. Israel must not only exercise democracy inside Israel, while at the same time allowing itself to practice and condone terror and suppression against Palestinians whose human rights are being violated by the same Israeli principles of democracy. The solution is an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.
"Third: Facing the above challenges would definitely lead to a durable and lasting peace in the region. This will not be achieved unless an end is put to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Prompt action must be firmly taken also against Israeli terrorist groups, many of whom live in settlements inside the Palestinian West Bank.
"We hope that the Israeli people and its leadership will accept the challenges and continue ahead with the peace process, which is the best instrument to defeat terror and terrorists. For the Palestinians, peace is a strategic choice and there is no turning back."3
The Middle East peace process: Chronology of meetings
October 30-November 1, 1991
Bilateral Arab-Israeli negotiations
Round 1 November 3, 1991, Madrid
Round 2 December 10-18, 1991, Washington, D.C.
Round 3 January 7-16, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 4 February 24-March 4, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 5 April 27-30, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 6 Session I: August 24-September 3, 1992
Session II: September 14-24, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 7 Session I: October 21-29, 1992
Session II: November 9-19, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 8 December 7-17, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Resumption of talks April 27-May 13, 1993, Washington, D.C.
June 15-July 1, 1993, Washington, D.C.
August 31-September 14, 1993, Washington, D.C.
January 24-February 3, 1994, Washington, D.C.
February 15-25, 1994, Washington, D.C.
US-Jordan-Israel Trilateral Economic Committee
1st Session November 4, 1993, Paris
2nd Session November 30-December 1, 1993, Washington, D.C.
3rd Session February 16-17, 1994, Washington, D.C.
4th Session June 6-7, 1994, Washington, D.C.
Ministerial Meeting July 20, 1994, Dead Sea, Jordan
6th Session August 28-29, 1994, Dead Sea, Jordan
7th Session September 12-13, 1994, Lake Tiberias, Israel
8th Session October 3, 1994, Washington, D.C.
9th Session October 10-13, 1994, Eilat, Israel
10th Session October 18-20, 1994, Aqaba, Jordan
11th Session November 28, 1994, Brussels
12th Session April 4, 1995, Amman
13th Session April 26, 1995, Amman
14th Session June 25, 1995, Lake Tiberias, Israel
US-Israel-Palestinian Trilateral Committee
1st Session September 29, 1995, Washington, D.C.
Multilateral Working Groups
Multilateral Steering Group
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 27, 1992, Lisbon
Round 3 December 3-4, 1992, London
Round 4 July 7, 1993, Moscow
Round 5 December 15, 1993, Tokyo
Round 6 July 12-13, 1994, Tabarka, Tunisia
Round 7 May 17-18, 1995, Montreux, Switzerland
Arms Control and Regional Security
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 11-14, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 3 September 15-17, 1992, Moscow
Round 4 May 18-20, 1993, Washington, D.C.
Round 5 November 2-4, 1993, Moscow
Round 6 May 3-5, 1994, Doha, Qatar
Round 7 December 13-15, 1994, Tunis
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 14-15, 1992, Vienna
Round 3 September 16-17, 1992, Washington, D.C.
Round 4 April 27-29, 1993, Geneva
Round 5 October 26-28, 1993, Beijing
Round 6 April 17-19, 1994, Muscat, Oman
Round 7 November 7-9, 1994, Athens
Round 8 June 18-22, 1995, Amman
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 18-19, 1992, Tokyo
Round 3 September 26-27, 1992, The Hague
Round 4 May 24-25, 1993, Tokyo
Round 5 November 15-16, 1993, Cairo
Round 6 April 6-7, 1994, The Hague
Round 7 October 25-26, 1994, Manama, Bahrain
Round 8 June 18-22, 1995, Amman
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 11-12, 1992, Brussels
Round 3 October 29-30, 1992, Paris
Round 4 May 4-5, 1993, Rome
Round 5 November 8-9, 1993, Copenhagen
Round 6 June 15-16, 1994, Rabat
Round 7 January 18-19, 1995, Bonn
Round 8 January/February 1996
Round 1 January 28-29, 1992, Moscow
Round 2 May 13-15, 1992, Ottawa
Round 3 November 11-12, 1992, Ottawa
Round 4 May 11-13, 1993, Oslo
Round 5 October 12-14, 1993, Tunis
Round 6 May 10-12, 1994, Cairo
Round 7 December 12-15, 1994, Antalya, Turkey
Round 8 December 1995, Geneva4
1. Israel Information Service Gopher, Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem,
5 November 1995 (via Internet).
2. Release of the Office of the White House Press Secretary, Jerusalem, 6 November 1995 (via Internet).
3. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: Near East & South Asia, No. FBIS-NES-95-215-S,
7 November 1995, pp. 9-10.
4. The United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Fact sheet: The Middle East peace process – Meetings following Madrid, 26 October 1995 (via Internet) [at dosfan.lib.uic.edu (Gopher)].
