FBIS Coverage of the Middle East Peace Talks- 1978 September

PPROVED FOR RELE SE CIA HI TORICAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION AR 70-14 13 V2013
Tonight we are debating the signing of a peace treaty the first clause of which will
entitled: the state of war between Israel and Egypt has come to an end. "The state
of war between Egypt and Israel has been terminated." [previous sentence in English]
This is the first clause in every peace treaty.
I want to say, Mr Chairman and all members of the Knesset, with all my heart and withall my soul, blessed are we who have come to this night. For the first time since thestate was founded the two countries will declare to all peoples of the world: There is nomore state of war between us.
Now, with the permission of the chairman and by way of asking .your pardon, permit me tosay something personal. I have been serving the people of Israel for 50 years as wellas its liberation movement, whose name is Zionism, and going on to old age I have nowhad to hear certain voices. of the sort that are not fit to be heard from this podium.
But even in the Knesset certain voices are heard, and to them it is my duty to reply.
MK Moshe Shamir stood on this podium and claimed that I had used a hammer concerning
the voting in the Knesset and he himself participated in the Foreign Affairs and Security
Committee in which another 20 members participated and they all heard me when I said,
and the same goes. for the Likud faction; I call on everyone, with no difference offaction, this time, to unite and vote in favor--for a new era is opening in the historyof Israel. Not that there are no difficulties, not that there are no pains, not that- there are no torments, but the great hope for the basic turn is what is before us. Letus unite. Let us unify.. We will accept the good with the bad and I do not deny thatsacrifices will be made, but the main thing is the first sentence, the end of the stateof war with the greatest and strongest of the Arab countries.
With Egypt the cycle of wars comes to an end, Syria cannot attack us because it knowsthat if it does so it will commit suicide. Jordan cannot attack us because it knows thatif it does so the king from the Hashemite dynasty will lose his crown. The cycle of warshas been closed--who knows--maybe for 5 years, maybe for 10, maybe for 50 years, maybefor a generation, maybe for two generations. After all, this is a historic turn in thefull meaning of the term. Let us unite around this turn. This is what I asked.
And afterward I said to all my friends--all of them are sitting here as witnesses--vote
as your souls tell you, according to your consciences. And for this I have to hear, as-I sit here on the Knesset podium, a friend of mine say that an attempt was made to usea hammer on members of the faction so that they should vote, as though they were robots?
They are like my father and mother. Is this true? Is this how one speaks in the -Knesset, to the ears of living witnesses, only in order to harm a hated man? Mr Shamir--he is an author in Israel and he wrote a book, in my view a very great one, entitled
King of Flesh and Blood, about our great king, Alexander Jannai. But .the late Professor
(Kloisner) did not like that book and wrote a shattering criticism of it and then, in
criticism of the book, the late Professor (Kloisner), one of our greatest historians,
said: There are those who excuse the author by saying he is no historian, but to such
ari extent no historian? [laughter] Now I want. to ask: Sometimes it is possible todeviate from the truth--but to deviate from it to such an extent? When dozens of-colleagues heard me: Vote as your souls tell you and according to your consciences?
To speak about hammers?