Funeral Speeches:
Acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres
We have not come to take our leave from you. We come to salute you, Yitzhak, a pronounced salute to what you were: a fierce fighter, who brought his people victory. A great dreamer, who shaped a new reality in our region.
We locked arms on Saturday night. I felt the tremor that went through your body. We sang together the "Song for Peace," and I sensed the elevation of your spirit. You told me there were warnings of intentions to assassinate at this enormous rally. We did not know who would cause harm, and we did not fathom that the harm would be so enormous. But we did know that we must not fear death, and that we must not waver in peace. The day before, we sat together, alone and face to face, as was our wont. It was the first time you mentioned to me that the work is tiring, but the peace is compelling. I knew your clearheadedness, and therefore your refusal to get carried away. And I knew your wisdom, and therefore your caution in keeping things close to your heart. These are the qualities of a captain, and a captain you were from early in your
life. A courageous captain in the battlefield headquarters of Israel, a great captain in the battle over peace in the Middle East.
Being a captain is not amusing. Therefore you were not an amused man. Earnestness became second nature to you, while responsibility was your first nature. The two together made you a rare leader, one who could move mountains, who could point at a goal, and reach it.
I had no idea that these would be the last hours of the partnership between us, which was boundless. I felt as if a distant grace was descending on you, and suddenly you were able to breathe freely at the sight of the sea of friends who came to support your way and to cheer you. The pinnacle you had reached opened wide, revealing the landscape of the new tomorrow.
Yitzhak, the youngest of Israel’s generals, and Yitzhak, the greatest trailblazer of roads to peace, your sudden demise illuminates the richness of your path. You were like no other man, nor did you want to imitate another man. Your lot was never with the "gay and the joyous." You made great demands, first and foremost on yourself, and therefore on others. You made no conciliation with negligence, and you did not shy away from summits. You knew every detail and saw the picture in its entirety, and you placed the details for the grand move, and they became a major decision.
Throughout your life you toiled hard, day and night, but the last three years were outstanding in their tremendous intensity. You promised to change the order of priorities, and a new order has indeed arrived. Intersections were opened, roads were paved, unemployment went down, new immigrants were absorbed, exports grew, and investments increased. The economy bloomed and flourished. Education was doubled, and science grew wings. But above all, or maybe as the foundation of it all, the strong wind of peace began to blow. Two agreements with the Palestinians — and I saw how moved they were — will enable them to conduct elections, and will allow us to be liberated from the necessity to rule over another people, just as you promised.
A heartfelt peace with Jordan invited the vast desert between us to become a green promise for both nations. The Middle East has awakened anew, with a new peace coalition being woven into it. A regional coalition that is supported by a worldwide coalition, as the captains of the United States and of Europe, of Asia and of Africa, of Australia and of our own region can attest to, at your fresh grave. Everyone has come, as we have, to salute you and to declare that the road you have opened will be continued.
Lea is without you this time. But the entire nation is with her and the family. I see our people horrified with tears in their eyes, but also well-aware that although the dum-dum bullet that murdered you can not kill the idea you held. You did not leave us a will, but you left us a road to march along determinedly and faithfully. The nation weeps, and may these also be tears of unity, of spiritual uplift, and of peace with our neighbors.
I can see here our Arab neighbors, and I want to say to them that peace is irreversible. Not for us and not for you. Neither we nor you may stop, postpone, or waver in the peace that will be comprehensive and inclusive, for the old, for the young, for all nations. From here, from Jerusalem where you were born, and where the three major faiths were born, let us use the words said unto our Matriarch Rachel, whose date of death is the day you fell: "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded… and there is hope for thy future, said the Lord."
The online edition of The Jerusalem Post – JPost.com – provides first class news and analysis about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Whether news about Iran, Gaza, Syria, Fatah, Hamas or Hezbollah, JPost.com covers the burning issues of the Middle East and the Israeli-Arab conflict.
