REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR ITAMAR RABINOVICH TO THE
                     AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE CONFERENCE 
                                 May 5, 1994 

 
AMBASSADOR RABINOVICH: Al, David, my ambassadorial colleagues, leaders and 
members of the organization, my friend and colleague Uri Savir, the director 
general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.   
 
Thank you very much, Al, for these kind and overly kind words of introduction. 
It is a genuine pleasure to be bringing to you tonight greetings from the 
government and people of Israel.  It is a genuine pleasure to watch a thriving 
American Jewish organization in its activities year 'round and in the festive 
mood of this annual gathering. 
 
There are many facets to your activities and many dimensions to the 
relationship between you and the state of Israel.  I am tempted to address 
several of them, but to be practical, I will focus my remarks on the main 
issue on our agenda, the peace process. 
 
It is a privilege to be making these remarks in the immediate aftermath of the 
secretary of state's address to you.  The United States is, technically 
speaking, one of the two co-sponsors of the Madrid peace process, but in 
substantive terms, it is the chaperon and the orchestrator of the peace 
process. We fought for many years to have direct contact with our Arab 
neighbors.  We know that without direct contact and negotiating, peace will 
not be established, but we also know that without friendly facilitation by the 
United States, peace accords will not be finalized.  Finding the right balance 
between direct negotiations and reliance on the good offices of the United 
States is one of the many challenges in this peace process, but given the 
excellent working relationship we keep with the Clinton administration, our 
mode of cooperation need not concern us too much.   
 
As an ambassador posted to Washington, I am obviously constrained in what I 
can say about our work with the State Department and the secretary, but I will 
say that we are confident that both the vital interests of the state of Israel 
and the role of managing the peace process are well looked after at Foggy 
Bottom. 
 
Yesterday, an important agreement was signed in Cairo.  The White House 
ceremony last September was a dramatic and moving event, but the psychological 
breakthrough and the symbolic crossing had to be translated into 
practicalities. 
 
It took seven months of protracted negotiations and many crises to finalize 
the agreement on implementation.  You, and many millions, had occasion to 
watch on television yesterday what we, the negotiators, had encountered many 
times in closed rooms.  You saw yesterday that our delegation was willing to 
leave had the agreement not been kept.  We have told you many times that we 
have red lines, and you saw yesterday that, indeed, we do. 
 
But the important tests are still ahead of us, and more important, ahead of 
the Palestinians.  The purpose of the agreement is to produce a change in 
reality. The Palestinian leadership is now given, for the first time, 
authority and responsibility for a sizeable population in a given territory.  
Its ability to govern, to administer, to keep law and order, to prevent 
violence and terror, and to foster economic development will have a crucial 
impact on the future of this peace process. 
 
On another track, our negotiations with Syria, some important progress was 
made. The secretary has referred to this progress and to the lingering gaps in 
his own address.  We are grateful for his willingness to invest time, efforts 
and creativity in yet another trip to the region in the near future.  We 
believe that further progress can be made and that some gaps can be narrowed 
in that trip.  For that to happen, Syria needs to respond fully to the peace 
package that we have presented and to engage in public diplomacy so as to 
persuade our government and our people that a transition from enmity to 
reconciliation has indeed been made. 
 
Earlier this evening, a less dramatic but hardly less significant event has 
come to a close.  The Israeli delegation to the arms control negotiations in 
Doha, the capital of Qatar, landed back at Ben Gurion airport. 
 
Think about it.  Ten days ago we were in Muscat, Oman.  Today we came back 
from Doha.  In September we will be in Bahrain.  It is a complex reality.  The 
Israeli citizen has to cope with, one and the same time -- at one and the same 
time with the prospect of fresh violence in Hebron, with the novel phenomenon 
of a direct television broadcast from the Gulf, and with the acrimonious 
debate on the price of a potential peace with Syria.   
 
I know that these questions are also in your minds.  It is comforting and 
important for us to know that in peacemaking as in war, you are with us.  May 
G-d be with you in your work, and may I wish you success in your present 
deliberations and in your ongoing work. 
 
Thank you very much. 
 

Return to Ambassador Rabinovich's Speeches Page