President Clinton, Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

This signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, here today, is not so easy -neither for myself, as a soldier in Israel`s wars, -nor for the people of Israel, -and not for the Jewish people in the Diaspora, who are watching us now with great hope, mixed with apprehension.

It is certainly not easy for the families of the victims of violence, terror and war, whose pain will never heal. For the many thousands who defended our lives with their own, and have even sacrificed their lives for our own - for them, this ceremony has come too late.

Today, on the eve of an opportunity for peace - and perhaps an end to violence and wars – we remember each and every one of them with everlasting love.

We have come from Jerusalem, the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish people. We have come from an anguished and grieving land. We have come from a people, a home, a family, that has not known a single year - not a single month – in which mothers have not wept for their sons. We have come to try and put an end to the hostilities, so that our children and our children's children will no longer have to experience the painful cost of war, violence, and terror.

We have come to secure their lives, and to ease the sorrow and the painful memories of the past - to hope and pray for peace.

Let me say to you, the Palestinians: We are destined to live together, on the same soil in the same land. 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.

We have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards you. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, live side by side with you - in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men. We are today giving peace a chance and again saying to you: Let us pray that a day will come when we will say, enough, farewell to arms.

We wish to turn over a new chapter in the sad book of our lives together - a chapter of mutual recognition, of good neighborliness, of mutual respect, of understanding. We hope to embark on a new era in the history of the Middle East.

Today, here in Washington, at the White House, we will begin a new reckoning in relations between peoples, between parents tired of war, between children who will not know war.

President of the United States, Ladies and gentlemen, Our inner strength, our higher moral values, have been derived for thousands of years from the Book of Books, in one of which, Ecclesiastes, we read: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace."

Ladies and gentlemen, the time for peace has come.

In two days, the Jewish people will celebrate the beginning of a new year. I believe, I hope, I pray that the New Year will bring a message of redemption for all peoples: a good year for you, for all of you. A good year for Israelis and Palestinians. A good year for all the peoples of the Middle East; for you, our American friends, who so want peace and are helping to achieve it; for presidents and members of previous administrations, especially for you, President Clinton, and your staff; for all citizens of the world: may peace come to all your homes.

In the Jewish tradition, it is customary to conclude our prayers with the word "Amen." With your permission, men of peace, I shall conclude with words taken from the prayer recited by Jews daily, and I ask the entire audience to join me in saying "Amen":

"May He who makes peace in His high heavens
grant peace to us and to all Israel. Amen."