Yitzhak Rabin Quotations

Jerusalem is united, will never be divided again.

We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.

We do not celebrate the death of our enemies.

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.

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.

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 believe however that peace is attainable regardless of the Arabs mentality, society or government.

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.

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.

Practically the only way to dry the swamp of radical Islam is through economic development and an improved standard of living.

The struggle to get weapons is continuous, but the United States will aid us, if it finds Israel displaying a willingness for peace.

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.

Israel has an important principle: It is only Israel that is responsible for our security.

A diplomatic peace is not yet the real peace. It is an essential step in the peace process leading towards a real peace.

I believe that in the long run, separation between Israel and the Palestinians is the best solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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.

Israel is no longer a people that dwells alone, and has to join the global journey toward peace, reconciliation and international cooperation.

In the midst of fighting there is no place for public debate.

What he did right now, pulling out of Gaza, is in the same path of my father's concept,

So if you want to call him a successor you may call him a successor. But he came to the same conclusion - that to be a Jewish, democratic, independent state we have to separate.

Of all hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted or dreamed of touching, ... We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we who have attended their funerals and cannot look into the eyes of their parents, we who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians - we say to you today in a loud and clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough. ...The time for peace has come.

I don't think he would have been able to bridge the great differences between the Palestinians and Israel.

I would like Gaza to sink into the sea, but that won't happen, and a solution must be found,

We have to pass one year in our relationship with the United States by walking on tiptoes. If we pass successfully the year 1975 and we will reach 1976, we will gain not one year but two.

We were all surprised how smooth it went, relative to what was expected. It took Israeli society time, 10 years, to become ripe for such a move,

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.

Ariel Sharon finally decided when he took this position, the disengagement, that this is the only way, and he realized that this is the way to gain the support of the world, ... After doing the disengagement, Ariel Sharon came to the U.N. for the first time, he came from the feeling that the world is not against us anymore.

the first step for change, for unity and for hope.

I think the fact that we have been focussing on politics quite a lot and the tumult of politics rather than what we should be doing in terms of policy has made, I think, voters quite grumpy.

Indigenous programs and policy will come within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet because Indigenous policy and programs should not be an add - on, they should not be an afterthought, but they should be at the heart of a good Australian Government.

I have been interested in the 12th century since my 20s when it was very fashionable to say of anybody with whom you disagreed, which was basically anybody over the age of 30, "One of the great minds of the 12th century", and one day I thought, "I don't know anything about the 12 century." So I started buying books, reading about it, and I discovered it was a period of great flowering, it was a Renaissance before what we think is the Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance of the 16th century.

A couple of things are missing from Indigenous affairs. We tend to go and process, we tend to spend a lot of money for very limited outcomes, and we have got to change that.

One of my theories about why we've been cranky is Australians have been forced to focus on politics or party politics a little bit more than they normally would.

I'm not saying Christopher Pyne and all them are my enemies, they're great blokes, shouted me a few beers a couple of times which I like, it's - we have got to sit down with the people like that. We have got to sit down with people like that and negotiate and work our way through. If we don't do that then we're just going to continue the sins of the past.

You don't make friends with friends. You have got to make friends with your enemies.

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 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.

Peace will be victorious.

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 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, serial number 30743, Major General Yitzhak Rabin, am a soldier in the army of peace.

We did not think that [Egyptian President] Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to Sinai on May 14 would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.

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.

The Government chose to give peace a chance. The Government chose to do something to achieve it.

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.

We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we who have attended their funerals and cannot look into the eyes of their parents, we who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians We say to you today in a loud and clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough.

Military cemeteries in every corner of the world are silent testimony to the failure of national leaders to sanctify human life.

We accept every form or way to talk to the Syrians how to achieve peace.

We have the right to ensure our security, especially when it is possible to reach agreement on a political solution.

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.

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.

There is no way of finding the middle ground, even with the best intentions of the world. Our most sensible policy is to stall.

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.

Syria doesn't want to talk with us on a bilateral basis, only under the auspices of the United States.

The negotiations must address all aspects, both peace and withdrawal.

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.

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.

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.

I admire King Hussein his courage in leading his country for a long time.

We have to recognize that there is a Palestinian entity, that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority has to run their life.

It is the duty of the government to guarantee maximum security, and this is not an easy task.

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.

It is my hope that I could be not just a Prime Minister, but a Prime Minister for Aboriginal affairs, the first I imagine that we've ever had.

We are ready to compromise. We are ready to take calculated risks, but for a peace that will give us security.

Enough of blood and tears. Enough!

We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement [with the Palestinians] that would secure a safe future for our children and that would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead a life of co-operation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed.

Peace has no borders.

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 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.

Peace with Syria would provide more security than a few settlements on the Golan.

For me, Jerusalem was united, will be under Israel sovereignty, will be the capital of Israel and the heart of the Jewish people.

I am healthy. I wish all my colleagues to the peace process to be healthy.

Peace is not made with friends. Peace is made with enemies.

Here, in the Land of Israel, we returned and built a nation. Here, in the Land of Israel, we established a State. The Land of the prophets, which bequeathed to the world the values of morality, law and justice, was after two thousand years, restored to its lawful owner - the members of the Jewish People, On its Land, we have built an exceptional national Home and State.

[Israel will] create in the course of the next 10 or 20 years conditions which would attract natural and voluntary migration of the refugees from the Gaza Strip and the west Bank to Jordan. To achieve this we have to come to agreement with King Hussein and not with Yasser Arafat.

I, serial number 30743, Lieutenant General in reserves Yitzhak Rabin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces and in the army of peace , I, who have sent armies into fire and soldiers to their death , say today: We sail onto a war which has no casualties, no wounded, no blood nor suffering. It is the only war which is a pleasure to participate in the war for peace.

The use of force, including beatings, undoubtedly has brought about the impact we wanted - strengthening the [occupied] population's fear of the Israeli Defense Forces.

If you have the same problem for a long time, maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's a fact.

We can continue to fight. We can continue to kill - and continue to be killed. But we can also try to put a stop to this never-ending cycle of blood. We can also give peace a chance.

We'll fight terror like there's no peace, and make peace like there's no terror.

You have got to sit down and talk to people. You can't understand people from a distance.

We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!