Speech to the People of the Middle East
(March 8, 1996)
Greetings to all the viewers of "Dialogue With
the West." I'm pleased to have this opportunity to speak with you
today. This has been a difficult week for all of us who have cherished
the growing prospects of peace in the Middle East and Israel. Dozens
of people lost their lives to an inhuman campaign of terror.
Think about the victims for a moment. Each was a human
being; a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife, a mother or a father.
Each wanted only to live and to love, to work and to dream in a land
of peace.
Those responsible for these terrible acts have but
one aim: to stop the peace process that so many people throughout Israel
and the Arab world so strongly desire. The enemies of peace know that
a new day is dawning in the Middle East, a day in which all its peoples
can enjoy the simple blessings of a normal life. With each new step
along the way, these enemies grow more and more desperate, and so they
sow the seeds of division and conflict, of hatred and destruction.
But make no mistake: The future they darken is their
own. For instead of a life of security and prosperity, all they have
to offer is violence, poverty, and despair. We must not allow them to
prevail. If we do everything we can to strengthen the peace they fear,
they will not prevail.
In the midst of this week's horror, there was one especially
powerful moment of hope. In Gaza City, 10,000 Palestinians came together
to make a simple, urgent plea: Say no to terrorism, say yes to peace.
They know that their own dreams and aspirations are at risk, to provide
for their loved ones, to raise a family in security, to see their own
children enjoy lives free from violence and full of possibilities. And
they understand a truth that we see all around the world.
Today the fundamental differences are no longer between
Arab and Jew or Protestant and Catholic or Muslim, Serb, and Croat.
The dividing line today is between those who embrace peace and those
who would destroy it, between those who look to the future and those
who are locked in the past, between those who open their arms and those
who still clench their fists. Each of us must decide which side of the
line we are on; the right side, the only side, is the side of peace.
Now more than ever, the choice we make matters. Choose
peace.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |