He possessed the courage to defend that peace and refused to bargain or compromise on it. In as much as we had, from the very first moment, perceived the dangers threatening peace posed by the opponents of peace and confronted them, and refused to bargain with those who tried to destroy the peace, Mr. Rabin resolutely confronted as well the opponents of peace in the Israeli side. He confronted the elements who wanted to continue occupation and settlement. Yitzhak Rabin was a great leader and a man of courage who defended his beliefs with his blood four years ago these days. It is the key to the success of the peace process and its progress and consilidation.
Peace means desisting from violence, terror, occupation, exile and settlement.
It means entering a new phase of cooperation and coordination so as to build what geography and the facts of life dictate, namely a common future where guaranteeing security and safety at the expense of others becomes impossible. Second, while we are progressing to carry out the dues accruing from the peace agreements and bringing the peace to its desired end, we have to remember that we are not starting from zero. We have so far an experience of six years during which we were able to maintain a ray of light despite the storms that threatened it over the last years. Our task is, therefore, to maintain this ray of light and to provide it with the appropriate environment so as to get stronger and engulf the region. We are, also, not walking on an open-ended road.