3
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Laureates. Excerpts
We have almost exhausted all the words in the lexicon of peace. When the festivals draw to their
end, after all the prizes have been awarded and the trumpets remain silent, we must return to the
harsh reality of everyday life.
We, Chairman Arafat and myself, are trying to change this reality in the Middle East. We have
to work sometimes against human nature, which seeks vengeance. We try to turn foe to friend. We
try to move the hands of time forward and above all not to look back.
For behind us, we have left a hundred years soaked in blood. We have left graveyards. We have
left bereaved families. We have left the disabled in body and soul. We have left a conflict which
no-one believed, and still many do not believe, can be brought to an end. I believe that we can live
another way.
I am convinced that Chairman Arafat is of the same mind: that man can live in another way.
Enough of hostility which knows no end. If we did not believe this, we would not stand here
together this evening and be awarded this distinguished prize; a prize which we receive gratefully
on behalf of both of our peoples and for their sake.
Tomorrow is Friday. In the mosques, Muslims will pray at noon. In the synagogues, Jews
will welcome the sabbath. We are here on the stage before you in Spain and we pray for those
worshippers of both religions. We pray for their peace and welfare, we pray that the peace process
that we embarked upon over a year ago will succeed. It is in its early stages —vulnerable, fragile—,
and we have to protect it, for the alternative is too harsh to even contemplate.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
From here, from Spain, from Madrid, from the Madrid Conference, we have set out on
this journey from which there can be no return and which we shall continue despite the many
enemies of peace. We knew that a hundred years of bloodshed would not be wiped out by a single
handshake. We knew that bitter memories do not vanish with a smile before a camera. But we did
not believe just how bitter those enemies of peace would be.
We shall fight and prevent them from continuing to carry out bloodshed, death, hatred,
suffering and agony; and we simply want it to be otherwise. We shall continue to seek a life of
harmony, a life of equality, a life of peace.
We hope that all peoples of the civilized world, including the Spanish people, will come to our
assistance. Poverty and famine are also the strident enemies of our common dream. All assistance
to the peoples seeking peace —the Israeli and the Palestinian people— is a blessing for us all. An
investment in peace is an investment in life.
Isaac Rabin
—
Prince of Asturias
Award for International
Cooperation
1994
In 1995, the year he was assassinated,
Isaac Rabin had been Prime Minister
of Israel since 1992 (having first held
this office between 1974 and 1977).
—
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for International
Cooperation on 24/11/1994.
