Arab-Israeli conflict
These quotes relate to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Quotes
Organized alphabetically by author.
Palestine is the cement that holds the Arab world together, or it is the explosive that blows it apart.
o Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, as quoted in TIME (New York, 11 November 1974).
We are not asking for the moon.
o Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, as quoted in the Observer (London, 7 February 1982).
Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest.
o Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, as quoted in the Daily Telegraph (London, 19 January 1989), on the Intifada.
My generation, dear Ron, swore on the Altar of God that whoever proclaims the intent of destroying the Jewish state or the Jewish people, or both, seals his fate.
o Menachem Begin, Israeli politician, prime minister in a letter to US President Ronald Reagan, as quoted in the Observer (London, 2 January 1983).
It is … undeniable that no settlement can be just and complete if recognition is not accorded to the right of the Arab refugee to return to the home from which he has been dislodged by the hazards and strategy of the armed conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. The majority of these refugees have come from territory which … was to be included in the Jewish State. The exodus of Palestinian Arabs resulted from panic created by fighting in their communities, by rumours concerning real or alleged acts of terrorism, or expulsion. It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries.
o From the “Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine” by Folke Bernadotte. 16 September 1948. United Nations General Assembly Doc. A/648. Part one, section V, paragraph 6.
The pre-eminent obstacle to peace is Israel’s colonisation of Palestine.
o Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, March 10, 2006 [1].
We came to a region that was inhabited by Arabs, and we set up a Jewish state. In many places, we purchased the land from Arabs and set up Jewish villages where there had once been Arab villages. You don’t even know the names [of the previous Arab villages] and I don’t blame you, because those geography books aren’t around anymore. Not only the books, the villages aren’t around…
o Moshe Dayan Address at Technion University (19 March 1969) A transcription of the speech appeared in Ha’aretz (4 April 1969).
We, the people of Palestine, stand before you in the fullness of our pain, our pride, and our anticipation for we long harbored a yearning for peace and a dream of justice and freedom. For too long, the Palestinian people have gone unheeded, silenced and denied, our identity negated by political expedience, our right for struggle against injustice maligned, and our present existence subsumed by the past tragedy of another people
o Haidar Abd El-Shafi, head of the Palestinian Delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference, Opening Remarks (Madrid, 30 October 1991) [2]
We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon — no alternative.
o Golda Meir, Israeli politician, prime minister. Life (New York, 3 October 1969).
Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us
o Golda Meir, 1957
The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.
o Benjamin Netanyahu, former israeli prime minister. Speech at the Knesset (the Israeli parliment) at the end of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (August 14 2006). [3]
We, the soldiers who have returned from battles stained with blood; we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes; we who have attended their funerals and cannot look in 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 a clear voice: enough of blood and tears. Enough.
o Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister. Speech at the White House, September 13, 1993, after signing the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles.
Not only [are] our states . . . making peace with each other,. . . you and I, your Majesty, are making peace here, our own peace, the peace of soldiers and the peace of friends.
o Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister. New York Times, (July 27, 1994), after signing a peace declaration with Jordan’s King Hussein.
The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.
o President Ronald Reagan as quoted in the Observer(London, 27 February 1983).
Should there be maniacs who raise the idea, they will encounter an iron fist which will leave no trace of such attempts.
o Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician, prime minister, as quoted in the Times (London, 11 August 1988), on advocates of Palestinian self-government.
Our image has undergone change from David fighting Goliath to being Goliath.
o Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician, prime minister, as quoted in the Daily Telegraph (London, 25 January 1989).
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