Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Yitzhak Rabin

We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.

I believe that it is my responsibility as the prime minister of Israel to do whatever can be done to exploit the unique opportunities that lie ahead of us to move towards peace. Not everything can be done by one act.

Arafat carried out what I consider to be atrocities.

We do not celebrate the death of our enemies.

The struggle to get weapons is continuous, but the United States will aid us, if it finds Israel displaying a willingness for peace.

I believe however that peace is attainable regardless of the Arabs mentality, society or government.

I don't see any reason to discriminate against homosexuals.

Practically the only way to dry the swamp of radical Islam is through economic development and an improved standard of living.

As far as Israel, I am not worried about the relations between Israel and the United States.

As prime minister, I changed Israel's position on peace negotiations. I made it clear that we are ready to go along with Resolution 242 of the U.N. Security Council, which specifies withdrawal to secure and recognized boundaries in the context of peace.

You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.

No Arab ruler will consider the peace process seriously so long as he is able to toy with the idea of achieving more by the way of violence.

I don't pretend that I can imagine myself as a Palestinian.

We must fight terrorism as if there's no peace process and work to achieve peace as if there's no terror.

Give peace a chance.

A diplomatic peace is not yet the real peace. It is an essential step in the peace process leading towards a real peace.

There's nothing harder than defining oneself.

I believe that in the long run, separation between Israel and the Palestinians is the best solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I don't want to be the policeman of Lebanon. It's not the business of Israel. Israel was not created to serve as a policeman of the region.

I would like Israel to be a Jewish state, and therefore not to annex over 2 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israel, which will make Israel a bi-national state.

The world is no longer against us.

Only the change on the international scene, the crisis in the gulf, and the strong, firm position of the United States against aggression between two Arab countries created realities that led to the Madrid Peace Conference.

I don't believe that in the name of the holiness of the city you have to put barbed wires, machine gun nests, mine pins and everything of that, in the name of the holiness of Jerusalem.

Israel is no longer a people that dwells alone, and has to join the global journey toward peace, reconciliation and international cooperation.

I think that life in Israel is sometimes bigger than the movies.

Let the Palestinians run their affairs: create a situation in which no Israeli soldier will have to maintain public order, whether in Gaza or the West Bank. Let's give it to the Palestinians, as long as there is security for us. No more occupying another people.

In the Jewish tradition, there is at the same time Jerusalem in the heavens and Jerusalem on the ground. Jerusalem is a living city, but also the heart, the soul of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

President Sadat of Egypt made a historic breakthrough in 1977 when he put an end to war and convinced both Egyptians and Israelis that he was ready to make peace. He broke down the walls of suspicion and prejudice.

Jerusalem is united, will never be divided again.

In fighting terror, you cannot let it interfere with the normal life of civilians in Israel.

You can always make peace with an F-16 in your pocket.

Regardless of some disagreements in the past with Dr. Kissinger, I personally had a very good relationship with the secretary when I served as ambassador to the United States and later on as premier.

Israel has an important principle: It is only Israel that is responsible for our security.

I'm trying to learn the lessons of the past, but not to make speeches about the past.

Israel's willingness to cooperate closely with the U.S. in protecting American interests in the region altered her image in the eyes of many officials in Washington.

It is our duty, to ourselves and to our children, to see the new world as it is now.

I am 73 years old. I was born in Jerusalem. I'm the first prime minister of Israel to be born here. I am the only former general to become a prime minister.

Terror cannot be finished by one war.

Lebanon is a Syrian protectorate. The Lebanese dare not do anything without the approval of Damascus.

I enter negotiations with Chairman Arafat, the leader of the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people, with the purpose to have coexistence between our two entities, Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinian state, entity, next to us, living in peace.

It is not worth the paper it is written on unless it is backed by the kind of force that will make the other side consider the penalties too heavy to break the agreement.

Although it is true that Hizballah is organized, inspired, financed, and armed by Iran, its main bases in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley are under Syrian military control.

In the midst of fighting there is no place for public debate.

Peace has no borders.

You don't make friends with friends. You have got to make friends with your enemies.

Peace will be victorious.

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'll fight terror like there's no peace, and make peace like there's no terror.

We can continue to fight. We can continue to kill - and continue to be killed. But we can also try to put a stop to this never-ending cycle of blood. We can also give peace a chance.

Here, in the Land of Israel, we returned and built a nation. Here, in the Land of Israel, we established a State. The Land of the prophets, which bequeathed to the world the values of morality, law and justice, was after two thousand years, restored to its lawful owner - the members of the Jewish People, On its Land, we have built an exceptional national Home and State.

[Israel will] create in the course of the next 10 or 20 years conditions which would attract natural and voluntary migration of the refugees from the Gaza Strip and the west Bank to Jordan. To achieve this we have to come to agreement with King Hussein and not with Yasser Arafat.

If you have the same problem for a long time, maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's a fact.

You have got to sit down and talk to people. You can't understand people from a distance.

There is no way of finding the middle ground, even with the best intentions of the world. Our most sensible policy is to stall.

Enough of blood and tears. Enough!

The use of force, including beatings, undoubtedly has brought about the impact we wanted - strengthening the [occupied] population's fear of the Israeli Defense Forces.

We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!

I, serial number 30743, Lieutenant General in reserves Yitzhak Rabin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces and in the army of peace, I, who have sent armies into fire and soldiers to their death, say today: We sail onto a war which has no casualties, no wounded, no blood nor suffering. It is the only war which is a pleasure to participate in - the war for peace.

For me, Jerusalem was united, will be under Israel sovereignty, will be the capital of Israel and the heart of the Jewish people.

Peace is not made with friends. Peace is made with enemies.