Addresses by King Hussein and Prime Minister Rabin at the Ratification of the Peace Treaty

A number of high-level meetings were required before the Israel-Jordan peace treaty was ratified. The ceremony was held in Zemach, and marked the first official visit of King Hussein in Israel.

Address by King Hussein, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan:

Prime Minister Rabin, my good friends,

I thank God, the Almighty, for blessing us both with the ability to see our long and objective march through to its conclusion. Yesterday, in Jordan, the treaty of peace between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel passed through its final constitutional phases. It is a privilege and a pleasure for me to be able to be with you here today, to exchange these documents, and to share with you the feeling that our long search and determined effort has put us on the threshold of the beginning that is worthy of us all, and worthy of our peoples - the threshold of peace, which I hope generations to come will cherish, protect and enjoy, and build and achieve what is worthy of them.

We hope and pray that this important event will be one of many, as all search for a comprehensive peace in this region and for the better future which is our peoples' right.

I would like to express my thanks to you, Prime Minister, your colleagues, as indeed I do to my colleagues from Jordan - the crown prince who represented me time and again and helped me oversee this process to this happy conclusion, the prime minister, the Jordanian team - everyone who approached peace with determination and hope and pride.

This is an honorable peace, a peace that will last, because from the first instant, it was our determination to make it so. Today, in this beautiful place, in this scenic spot, I would like to thank all of you for welcoming us here. I share with you a commitment to fight to preserve peace, as we struggled in the past in our search for it. I am sure that generations to come will build on what we have established, and we have solid foundations, and wish them the best.

Thank you very, very much indeed.

Address by Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of Israel:

Your Majesty King Hussein, the Crown Prince, Prime Minister Majali, your colleagues, my colleagues - Foreign Minister Peres, two members of Knesset from the two major parties, MK David Levy who was foreign minister of Israel and MK Eli Goldstein - both of them live here along the Jordan River, from Degania to Beit Shean; my other Israeli colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Our peace treaty with your country, Your Majesty, was ratified even before we signed it. There was a national consensus on this, 105 members of the Knesset from most of the major parties supported it and its expression of unique relations, admiration of your leadership as the king of Jordan, and our dreams, our aspirations to sign a peace treaty with you, that was common to the majority of the people of Israel, came into being.

I believe that now we have exchanged the ratified peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, today we start to count the days, the months, which are so specified in the peace treaty - what will have to be done to materialize it. Not just to sign it, not just to write it, but really to make it a viable, entirely different relationship between our two countries and our two peoples.

I believe this is the most beautiful scene to do the most beautiful act, to end not a state of war - this we decided in the Washington Declaration in Washington - but to establish the structure of peace, to build the relations of peace. I am sure that on this occasion I can say that the people of Israel are more than eager to see it materialized, to see a unique relationship develop between our two countries to the benefits of the peoples of the two countries, and to serve as an example of what peace can bring about in our region by building... between our two countries and our two peoples.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is a unique historic day. It is the second peace treaty that we signed, the first one since the convening of the Madrid peace conference, three years ago. Which shows that with good will, with determination, with courage - peace is attainable. I hope that it will serve as an example to the other countries with which we negotiate - Syria, Lebanon - which one day will be convinced by what we have achieved, together, Your Majesty, and they will follow what has been done between our two countries, between you, Your Majesty, and myself.

Our aspiration is for a Middle East in which all the neighboring Arab countries and the Palestinians will solve the problems between them for the purpose of having an entirely different Middle East - a Middle East in which we all will live in peace, will build a new era, new relationships, new cooperation in every aspect of the lives of the countries and the peoples.

Your Majesty, you led your country with courage, imagination and vision. You led your country and people under difficult times, and today, I believe, is a day in which we can celebrate together. Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I believe that peace now will be implemented, because of what we have signed, because of the determination of our two countries and our two peoples to live in real peace. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Shalom, Salaam and Peace.

Source: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs