And Israel, being a tiny, small country, of course has interest to strengthen – we have interest to strengthen our relations with other countries, mostly countries that were hostile for many, many years.
Peace should provide security. It should be durable. I’m ready to go far in making painful concessions. But there is one thing I will never make any concessions on and that’s the security of the Israeli citizens and the very existence of the state of Israel. The Palestinians are losing time.
Close to 80 percent of all terrorist activity in Samaria was directed and financed either by Hizbullah or the Iranians. Iran continues to increase its involvement in terror attacks inside Israel, particularly through a small but radical minority of Israeli Arabs which Iran supports and directs.
We are together with the British and Americans because one should fight terror. But we are not going to pay the price for it by endangering Israel and its citizens.
When I was born here on one of the farms in Israel, my childhood, I never thought for one day that we will not be living together with Arabs.
On April 19 1943, the Bermuda conference gathered, with the participation of representatives from Britain and the United States, in order to discuss saving the Jews of Europe. In fact, the participants did everything in their power to avoid dealing with the problem.
All together, we know for many years that terror is the most dangerous thing for local, regional and international stability.
To the citizens of Israel, I say: we have passed difficult years, faced the most painful experiences and overcame them. The future lies before us. We are required to take difficult and controversial steps, but we must not miss the opportunity to try to achieve what we have wished for, for so many years: security, tranquillity and peace.
We have no desire to permanently rule over millions of Palestinians, who double their numbers every generation. Israel, which wishes to be an exemplary democracy, will not be able to bear such a reality over time. The Disengagement Plan presents the possibility of opening a gate to a different reality.
That is all that we want, what people want, what people want in New York, in Washington, in Pittsburgh, in any other place in the United States or in Europe. People want to live peacefully. That’s what we want.
It is impossible to have a Jewish, democratic state and at the same time to control all of Eretz Israel. If we insist on fulfilling the dream in its entirety, we are liable to lose it all. Everything. That is where the extremist path takes us.
Israel is a wonderful country. It’s a beautiful country. It is ours. But it is a country with 10,000 problems that we have to solve and deal.
We extend our hand towards peace. Our people are committed to peace. We know that peace entails painful compromise for both sides.