I would like to discuss tonight a specific subject which I think we all should give our minds to, as it is in the center of the conflict in the Middle East. I would like to discuss the issue of power: military power, balance of power, and the moral values that guide a leader and a nation: when you use power as a fundamental system to avoid the use of power, when your moral values and the salvation of human life are your basic guide.

Israel was finally granted a Jewish state after a long struggle for it by the vote of the United Nations in November 1947. The first Jewish settlers started the return to Zion at the turn of the century. Palestine, which 2,000 years ago was the Jewish land, was now a bare, deserted country in which few Jewish people had been living -- but mostly Arabs. Ancient towns, little villages, plenty of bareness, no trees, a big desert with swamps and malaria.

The Jewish settlers, coming mostly from East Europe, started buying land and showing through hard, physical work (which they

had neither been used to nor trained for) how they were able to turn the desert into an oasis of a new life. Plowing the fields, planting trees, lawns, flowers, much enthusiasm vis-a-vis enormous physical hardship -- those were the Jewish pioneers, working hard from morning till night, under blazing sunshine, and then singing and dancing at night. Often attacked by Arab rioters who utterly opposed this Jewish land built in front of their eyes.

"We are building the Jewish homeland," the new settlers declared. Palestine was under British mandate and under an ongoing pressure from all the Arab neighboring countries. There were strict limitations on Jewish migration into Palestine. Then came World War II and the Nazi Holocaust. Jewish people who managed to escape the hell became refugees, turned down by most countries in Europe and North and South America. Some managed to be brought into Palestine illegally; others were turned away by the British mandate authorities, to the great dismay and unbelievable frustration of the Jewish community in Palestine. More and more

bitterness erupted. The need for an independent Jewish state was imminent. The homeless refugees and survivors need a home. The Jewish homeland must and will be their home, will be there for them with open gates whenever they arrive to seek a home.

So when, in 1947, we were finally granted the Jewish state, we were standing alone. A community of 600,000, we had hardly any weapons and a defense force put together by the Palmach units which had trained for years towards this day. Few in numbers and very poor in arms, we joined together with other groups of the Hagana and groups of Jewish soldiers who had served in the British army and now returned home. Different groups -- different experiences. This was the newborn Jewish army of the newborn Jewish state facing now a major threat: seven Arab nations refusing to accept a Jewish state into their area and determined to destroy it; seven Arab countries invading Israel on the day of the declaration of the state, 14 May 1948. David standing in front of Goliath -- few and weak against the many well-equipped armies.

How did we survive this war of independence in 1948? Only by realizing that this is our one given chance -- only by total dedication and readiness for sacrifice of so many young people. Almost a whole generation was killed. The cemeteries of Israel tell the stories of loss of young lives. They gave their lives so that we shall have a state, and we shall live, and we shall always remember to whom we owe the survival of the young Jewish state.

After this war it became so obvious and clear that if we want to survive in the area, we have to build an exceptionally strong army -- which will be the guarantee to our survival, which will be able to deter any attempt to annihilate us, which in the long run will enable us to aspire for peace.

This was Yitzhak's philosophy, and to this philosophy he devoted a good part of his life.

This conviction of the absolute need of a strong well-armed and

well-trained military force was tested in 1967. Yitzhak was the commander of the Israel Defense Forces. He was toiling day and night to have this army ready for every eventuality. When, in 1967, Israel was invaded by three Arab countries (who were once again sure that they were going to wipe out the Jewish State and throw it into the sea), it turned into the most amazing victory. In six days the Israel Defense Forces managed to overcome the invaders on all three fronts, taking the whole desert of Sinai and arriving at the Suez Canal, reuniting Jerusalem and getting to the Western Wall. A 2,000- year dream and aspiration came true as we Jewish people had dreamt and aspired that the day would come that we shall touch the Western Wall stones again. And on that day we did, taking also the west bank of the River Jordan and finally climbing on the Golan Heights from which the Syrians were threatening Jewish settlements throughout 20 years.

We did it again -- and proved to our neighbors: you can not destroy us. Maybe the time has come to accept Israel and consider peace? But the time had not yet come, and only another

attempt in 1973, to again attack Israel from South and North, finally brought President Sadat to realize: if you can't fight them, join them.

In 1975, Yitzhak was Prime Minister and together with the great help of Henry Kissinger (at that time Secretary of State of President Nixon's government), who for a few months shuttled back and forth between Israel and Egypt, the interim agreement was signed. This agreement was based on one principle: a piece of land for an agreement that could later lead to full peace. And it did so when Sadat first arrived in Jerusalem, received by us like a courageous hero. Then in 1979, after long negotiations in Camp David, under the auspices of President Carter, there was the first peace agreement signed between Israel and Egypt. "No more war -- no more bloodshed," Anwar Sadat said. Ever since then, for 18 years, there has been peace with Egypt -- and no more bloodshed.

Years went by, and the conflict between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors on the West Bank continued. The Intifada focused on the urgent need to put an end to this conflict at long last. It was obvious the time had come to try and solve this complex issue. Yitzhak condemned any terrorist activity and said to them time and again: your terror will never solve our problem. Let us sit and talk.

We, the established Jewish state, with our very strong and so well-equipped armed forces, against a people who have lived under our occupation for 30 years since the Six Day War, who want their freedom and independence, who want to restore their dignity as an entity, which developed during all these years under Israeli occupation -- bitter and frustrated.

Now we are Goliath and they are David. How do we morally handle this situation? We Jews who for 2,000 years suffered persecution, discrimination and offense, we who had no homeland and no power to resist, we who were as a nation almost annihilated by Nazi Germany when 6,000,000 were exterminated.

And now we confront a society who has no land and no strength. They work for us and they watch us, and the frustration is ever- mounting.

Yitzhak, who was elected Prime Minister again in 1992, decided to put an end to this conflict. "We shall make peace with our neighbors," he declared. "It is Yasser Arafat who has for years been and still is their leader. Then it is with him I shall talk -- and it is his hand I shall shake. As long as I can advance the cause of peace and put an end to this eternal fight and bloodshed." And on 13 September 1994, with President Clinton in their midst as the representative of the United States, who has ever been there to help Israel, to support Israel, and to help the Middle East come to peaceful terms. With President Clinton in their midst, Yitzhak shook the hand of Arafat -- a simple act which, in fact, started the train of peace to roll.

I know people were wondering how did he feel shaking a hand he said he never would. The leader of the P.L.O., whose hands were stained with Israeli blood. But think of it - were his hands more bloodstained than those of Sadat, who had conducted three major wars during which we lost thousands of young lives before

he realized that he could not destroy Israel? And here is a leader of people who live across our border and need peace, and need dignity, and need independence. We the Jewish state, will we deny them all that when we know how strong we are and that indeed they cannot present a major threat to our existence by their various terrorist acts - including the suicidal Hamas activities who always took a terrible toll of innocent Israeli citizens? Terror should be condemned under any circumstances. At the same time, the solution will not be found other then by getting together and trying to create a dialogue and find a way to a possible solution. As we approach the dialogue, we must have in mind: we are now Goliath. We can afford to take a

certain risk, to be more generous, to be morally a David. This is what as Jews we wish to be - to use our power for our defense. "Thou shalt not do to your neighbor what you would not like done to yourself."

Yitzhak considered himself a privileged man. He was privileged to grasp the given opportunity, to put an end to the conflict, to be aware: "I am strong enough to make peace- even with a certain risk- even though that I know peace has enemies." And peace had enemies, yet he was so convinced that this peace process has no alternative. "'Let's give peace a chance," he would say. "Let the sun rise, the morning brings the light" is a phrase in the song of peace he sang that night with Shimon Peres. And on November 5, when the sun rose, he did not see it. Peace had enemies. One of them, part of a climate full of hatred to this wonderful man- shot him dead.

Yitzhak believed in the necessity of power, but never wanted to use it unless he saw no alternative. Power was not an end, it was the necessary means. He respected human life very much and

grieved over every loss of it. He believed the Oslo agreement guaranteed a peaceful future in our area -- step by step, phrase after phrase -- and meanwhile restore trust and confidence and begin to build a coexistence based on dignity and respect. He was murdered -- and his murder put an end to so much he still intended to achieve. And when the train of peace one day arrives at its final destination, which I believe it will, this is how I will feel:

"Oh captain ... My captain!
Rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up for you the bugle trills,
for you bouquets and ribboned wreaths -
for you the shores a-crowding.
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.
Here Captain, dear father
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead."