Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Yitzhak Rabin - Page 2

We have to recognize that there is a Palestinian entity, that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority has to run their life.

I have been interested in the 12th century since my 20s when it was very fashionable to say of anybody with whom you disagreed, which was basically anybody over the age of 30, "One of the great minds of the 12th century", and one day I thought, "I don't know anything about the 12 century." So I started buying books, reading about it, and I discovered it was a period of great flowering, it was a Renaissance before what we think is the Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance of the 16th century.

Steps toward a rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states create a process that turns economics into the moving force that shapes the regional relations instead of nationalist interests that were dominant in the past.

But, more than anything, in the more than three years of this Government's existence, the Israeli people has proven that it is possible to make peace, that peace opens the door to a better economy and society; that peace is not just a prayer. Peace is first of all in our prayers, but it is also the aspiration of the Jewish people, a genuine aspiration for peace.

I'm not saying Christopher Pyne and all them are my enemies, they're great blokes, shouted me a few beers a couple of times which I like, it's - we have got to sit down with the people like that. We have got to sit down with people like that and negotiate and work our way through. If we don't do that then we're just going to continue the sins of the past.

We did not think that [Egyptian President] Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to Sinai on May 14 would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.

We accept every form or way to talk to the Syrians how to achieve peace.

Syria doesn't want to talk with us on a bilateral basis, only under the auspices of the United States.

What I, as the prime minister of the present government of Israel, started to do, is first to tackle the longest part of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

I am healthy. I wish all my colleagues to the peace process to be healthy.

I think the fact that we have been focussing on politics quite a lot and the tumult of politics rather than what we should be doing in terms of policy has made, I think, voters quite grumpy.

We are ready to compromise. We are ready to take calculated risks, but for a peace that will give us security.

A couple of things are missing from Indigenous affairs. We tend to go and process, we tend to spend a lot of money for very limited outcomes, and we have got to change that.

I'll continue to carry out whatever we are committed to. Whatever we believe leads us to a permanent solution the way we want it, the way I want it.

One of my theories about why we've been cranky is Australians have been forced to focus on politics or party politics a little bit more than they normally would.

It is the duty of the government to guarantee maximum security, and this is not an easy task.

I admire King Hussein his courage in leading his country for a long time.

I, serial number 30743, Major General Yitzhak Rabin, am a soldier in the army of peace.

The negotiations must address all aspects, both peace and withdrawal.

We appreciate the efforts of the United States, of the president, of the secretary of state, and we are ready to find any form of talks, but we have to overcome the differences between Syria and Israel to reach peace.

Vis a vis the Golan Heights, the present government of Israel, under my leadership, is the first government that is ready to speak about a withdrawal.

I invite President Assad to come to Jerusalem and to speak with me, with our parliament, with whomever he wants to speak in Israel and in the territories among the Palestinians.

There are two phases of the redeployment of the Israeli forces in the West Bank: One, to allow elections. Second, after the elections, to help further redeployment.

The Government chose to give peace a chance. The Government chose to do something to achieve it.

It is my hope that I could be not just a Prime Minister, but a Prime Minister for Aboriginal affairs, the first I imagine that we've ever had.

We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement [with the Palestinians] that would secure a safe future for our children and that would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead a life of co-operation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed.

We have the right to ensure our security, especially when it is possible to reach agreement on a political solution.

I was a military man for 27 years. I fought so long as there was no chance for peace. I believe that there is now a chance for peace, a great chance. We must take advantage of it for the sake of those standing here, and for those who are not here - and they are many.

I considered the prevention of war as the test of our security policy; in addition to being able to rapidly and forcefully end any war forced upon us.

Military cemeteries in every corner of the world are silent testimony to the failure of national leaders to sanctify human life.

We will not leave the Golan Heights, not even in exchange for a peace treaty. We will be ready for a limited compromise and it does not have to be in territorial terms.

We are committed to free access and free practice, to the members of the other two religions, to the holy shrines in Jerusalem. To the Muslims, to the Christians.

This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace. For this, I thank you.

Peace with Syria would provide more security than a few settlements on the Golan.

Indigenous programs and policy will come within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet because Indigenous policy and programs should not be an add - on, they should not be an afterthought, but they should be at the heart of a good Australian Government.