We don't need legitimacy. We exist. Therefore we are legitimate.
Menachem BeginRead
My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the commitment and persistent efforts to pursue peace through negotiation and collaboration.
In this quote, Menachem Begin reflects on the dedication of himself and his colleagues to seek peace between Israel and its neighbors. He underscores the importance of continuous effort and dialogue in making peace a tangible reality, rather than just a distant hope. The phrase 'footsteps of our predecessors' suggests a respect for those who have worked towards peace before them, highlighting a legacy of commitment to a better future.
In practice
This quote could be shared at a peace conference to inspire negotiators.
We don't need legitimacy. We exist. Therefore we are legitimate.
No more wars, no more bloodshed. Peace unto you. Shalom, salaam, forever.
I come to Jerusalem. There, the sky is blue and memory becomes clear.
Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And forever.
In peace, the Middle East, the ancient cradle of civilization, will become invigorated and transformed. Throughout its lands there will be freedom of movement of people, of ideas, of goods.
One has to understand what the enemy is all about: the enemy's history, the enemy's culture, the enemy's aspirations. If you understand these well, you can perhaps move towards peace.
Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in the smoke of confabulation. There can be no peace on earth without the kind of inner change that brings man back to his "right mind." p. 31
Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism.
I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are, in my judgment, ripe today to restart the peace process.
It must be a peace without victory
Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.
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