Photo by GPO

Prime Minister Olmert’s greetings at the beginning of the meeting:

Honorable Heads of the Churches,
Honorable Minister and Deputy Minister,
Representatives of the Communities and Religions,
Good evening and welcome.

I am very pleased to continue this tradition which we previously inaugurated and to host you all at the Prime Minister’s Residence at a time during which many religions have important holidays.  The Muslims, the Druze and the Circassians celebrated the Festival of the Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, and today we are lighting the first candle of Chanukah, while in several days time the Christian religion will celebrate Christmas.  All these occur in close proximity to each other, and this is so characteristic of the State of Israel, which is a country in which the various religions and peoples have gathered and live together, and on which fate has decreed that they find a way to live together in mutual respect and in respect of the traditions and leaders of each of the groups and of each of the religions.

I feel that this meeting is an obligation imposed on all of us to find the right path to living together in mutual respect and tolerance, which is the only way we can live in peace, side by side and in respect.  I do not wish to say too much at this point; perhaps I will say a few words after we hear from the various representatives.  However, I can tell you that it is my great privilege to host you all here as an expression of the State of Israel’s attitude towards all its citizens – of their origins, of their background, of their heritage, of their traditions, of their culture.  All are equal citizens of the State of Israel.  I wish you all an enjoyable and pleasant evening, and happy holidays.

Prime Minister Olmert’s closing remarks

Again, distinguished guests, thank you for coming.  Since the Chief Rabbi, in his wisdom and with his exceptional knowledge, chose to integrate the spiritual and the material in his address, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about the statements made by my good friend, Minister Ghaleb Majadle, and my good friend of many years, Deputy Minister Majalli Whbee.  The task I took upon myself out of all the tasks a Prime Minister of Israel is charged with, was to change the pattern of the relations between the various religions and communities in Israel.  I do not wish to overstate the value of the things we have done, but I think one can say that we took a very important step forward.  It is still not enough.

You also heard the words of Sheikh Mufaq al-Tarif, that we have become accustomed to bureaucracy.  Allow me to allay your concerns, Honorable Sheikh, we too have become accustomed to bureaucracy.  It does not always allow us to accurately complete all we wish to accomplish within a short period of time, but we have committed to ourselves and to the entire population of the State of Israel that we will advance the full equality of all the citizens of the State of Israel from the entire spectrum represented here, not only through slogans, but also through actions and in mutual tolerance in order to create real equality.

Let me give you an example.  One of the problems which trouble the State of Israel is that of education.  One of the problems I came across while serving as mayor here in Jerusalem, and in other positions I have filled in the Government – as minister and as prime minister – is the shortage of classrooms.  We are currently building 8,000 classrooms, 40% of which are being built in the non-Jewish sector in order to narrow the gap created by faulty and unjust policy created over many years.  This is not just a slogan of wanting to create equality, but rather it is an attempt to do so in a practical manner in the field.

An additional example is our dealing with the issue of resettling the Bedouins in the Negev.  The minister who is not present, but who has done a great deal in this regard is Minister Sheetrit and then Minister Ze’ev Boim, who replaced him.  They acted in tandem with me to establish a committee headed by Retired Supreme Court Justice Goldberg in order to regularize the matter of the resettlement of the Negev Bedouins, based on studying the matter of land ownership and against the background of the divisions which existed concerning this matter for many years.  I believe that the Committee’s conclusions constitute a very significant step in that for the first time, the Bedouin public accepts this solution, despite it being very expensive and it will impose a very heavy burden on the State.  However, we prefer such a burden over that of divisions and of a feeling of neglect and inequality which troubles some of our residents.  We set goals not only in this field of increasing the feeling of equality, but also in the field of creating actual equal conditions for people of all religions and populations in the State of Israel.

This year we established the Authority for the Economic and Social Development of the Arab Population, headed by Iman Sayif.  For the first time, we held the Prime Minister’s Conference for Arab Affairs, which began in my residence and then moved on to Haifa.  That gathering was, I believe, a landmark in the creation of tools to improve the socio-economic conditions under which the Arab population lived in the State of Israel, and we intend to continue thus with other aspects of our lives.

The path ahead is still long.  Many suspicions, insecurities and painful memories overshadow these relations, and what occurred on Yom Kippur in Acre is an example of this.  It is unimportant how it occurred; what is important is that we must find a way to solve this problem, with a feeling of tolerance and of cooperation and of understanding and out of an attempt to bring closer together and not to separate.  I am very pleased that the atmosphere in Acre has calmed, but this is just an example of the tensions which lie beneath the surface.  There are many more things which weigh heavily and overshadow, and this Government is duty bound not to avoid confronting these problems, but to create the tools that can solve them.

Of course, floating above all these other things is our duty to achieve peace between us and our neighbors.  Peace between ourselves and our neighbors will create a completely different atmosphere of living in a country in which there are representatives of all the populations which surround the State of Israel.  It is not an easy path; it is not a simple mission.  I have devoted a significant amount of my time and concern, on the one hand to the security of the residents of the State, but on the other hand and at the same time, I looked for ways to advance the chances of peace.  We have yet to complete our work, but I believe we have moved much closer to the end of the journey.  This was our policy, with the full knowledge that it would involve political costs and would touch on issues which were very sensitive for us all.  Every person must act according to his own path, in accordance with his faith, in accordance with his heritage.  I believe there is no other way to live together but to eventually compromise, even if it is painful.  The most painful cost is less painful than the wound of friction and of confrontation and of conflict and of violence which I am attempting to prevent with all my power.

I will conclude with a memory I carry with me from my tenure as Mayor of Jerusalem, which serves as a symbol of all the sensitivities and the memories and the prayers of all members of all the religions who ultimately turn their gaze to Jerusalem.  When I was elected to my position, I already had much experience of public life in the State of Israel.  I had served as a member of Knesset for many years; I served as a government minister; but I had not worked in this field, especially in the meeting between the charged emotions of all the various religions in this city, which is a city of memories and with a history of division and confrontations.  There certainly were people who also feared what would happen.  I was a mayor who had come from the Likud party with beliefs that some people feared.  All sorts of people came to me and gave me advice, but finding the right way to unite this incredibly diverse city in which there are so many mosques, so many important churches and so many important synagogues.  What was the right path?

I was given advice which seemed to be very wise.  I was told: “Listen, you must find a way to blur the contrasts in order to find common ground.  The more you act to blur the contrasts, the more you will narrow the differences.”  It sounds so right and so smart that I almost failed to accept this advice, because very quickly I learned that the most important thing to people who live in this city – and it is just a symbol of what is currently happening in the country – the most important thing is that people want to preserve their uniqueness and not relinquish it.  The wisdom of living together is finding a place for the uniqueness and heritage and tradition each individual brings due to his history without it creating conflict.  This is much more difficult, but there is no other way.  The peoples of all religions will live in the State of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, and each of them will have a place to exercise his customs, preserve his heritage, come to his house of prayer, strengthen his historic memories and pray to his god in a feeling of freedom and equality and brotherhood which will unite us all – each in his own way but all together.

I tried to do this in Jerusalem.  My Government tried to do this in the entire State of Israel, and I believe this legacy will eventually overcome all the suspicions and sensitivities, and will overcome and unite us in order to ensure that the State of Israel will continue to be a country in which anyone who lives here can live with a feeling of equality, as well as justice and honor.

In this spirit, on behalf of the Government of Israel and as the Jewish Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I wish you all a happy holiday – everyone in their own way according to their faith.  Happy holidays and happy New Year.