“There is only one radical means of sanctifying human lives. Not armored plating, or tanks, or planes, or concrete fortifications. The one radical solution is peace.”
Nobel Prize lecture, December 10, 1994
“The solution can only be a political one.”
From a 1989 interview, referring to the conflict with the Palestinians.
“We must fight terrorism as if there’s no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there’s no terror.”
Responding to terrorist attacks that imperiled the Oslo peace process
“I, military ID #30743, retired general in the Israel Defense Forces in the past, consider myself to be a soldier in the army of peace today. I, who served my country for 27 years as a soldier, I say to you, to your majesty, the King of Jordan, I say to you our American friends, today we are embarking on a battle which has no dead and no wounded, no blood and no anguish. This is the only battle which is a pleasure to wage, the battle for peace.”
Speech to U.S. Congress, July 26, 1994
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“In the current reality, there are only two options: either a serious effort will be made to make peace with security … or that we will forever live by the sword.
Speech to the Knesset, July 13, 1992
“[The Palestinians] did not in the past and do not in the present constitute an existential threat to the state of Israel.”
Speech to the Knesset following the ratification of the Oslo II Accords, October 5, 1995.
“I was a military man for twenty-seven years. I fought as long as there were no prospects for peace. Today I believe that there are prospects for peace, great prospects. We must take advantage of this for the sake of those standing here, and for the sake of those who do not stand here. And they are many among our people.”
Speech to rally in Tel Aviv, November 4, 1995
