CATEGORIES
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- Hillary Clinton called
her "An Ambassador of Peace"
- Lea Rabin's 1998 Acceptence
Speech at Rice University in the Name of her Late Husband,
- Penned Entirely in
Her Own Hand!
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 RABIN,
Lea. (1928-2000). First Lady of
Israel. Along with her husband, Yitzhak, the former prime Minister,
they will both be remembered as valiant fighters for Israel and
for peace. After her husband's assassination (1995) she carried
on a dream that she and Yitzhak had made together and that was
to secure peace for Israel. She spent the next 5 years working
tirelessly in Israel and around the world to keep her husband's
flame alive.On May 28,1998, Lea accepted a prestigious honor
at Rice University, in the name of her late husband. She delivered
what many called the best speech of her life. This is the speech,
10 numbered pages in length, in her hand, penned on her personal
notepaper.
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- Her speech reads in part: "...who
really decides upon the course of history - it is a course of
events...if we think of World War II, I don't believe there is
a question that it would have never occurred had it not been
for A. Hitler's lunatic ambitions - and would have never ended
with the total defeat of Nazi Germany - had it not been for Churchill,
Roosevelt and Stalin's determination to win this horrible war
at any price....here it would be rather the course of events
is the nature of the conflict-two nations, entities, the Arabs
and the Jews claiming the same piece of land. It is the Jews
who have returned to their ancient homeland after 2000 years
of exile - it were the Arabs who had lived there for a long time
and did not understand or accept the return of the Jewish people.
The Nazi holocaust during which 6,000,000 Jewish people went
to their death, and the survivors - who after the War were running
around the world seeking a home, not admitted or welcomed anywhere
- this was the trigger to the U.N. vote in favor of a Jewish
State. Mr. Ben Gurion, the leader of the 500,000 Jewish community
accepted the partition lines dividing the land....vehemently
opposed by the Arabs - and then by the revisionist Jews - led
by Mr. Begin claiming both sides of the Jordan belong to us -
and why settle for less...we survived the War of Independence,
a community of barely 600,000 attacked by 7 Arab nations...we
only go out to war when we have to defend ourselves, or else
how will we be able to look into the eyes of a mother whose son
was killed in action...the best war is one that can be avoided...(Yitzhak)
he was consistently against building settlements on the West
Bank. He never regarded it as our land....a blessed man who twice
was given second opportunities. Jerusalem. The P.M. again. The
guaranty looms. Change of priorities. Ending the 100 years conflict
with our Palestine neighbors. The Oslo agreements - based on
trust, faith, respect. Enemies to peace - Y. was murdered. The
tabernacle of peace had a strong fundamental. The fundamental
is destroyed. But at the same time there is already a new reality
of peace - there was too much hope planted. We do not want to
loose it. It can and has to happen. Don't know when and for what
price, but it will."
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- After Mrs. Rabin gave this speech, she
tossed these pages into a trash can. A collector retrieved the
notes and asked her to sign the last page, using his pen. Included
is the program for the ceremonies and the collector's personal
invitation. This is a choice piece of Israeli history handwritten
from one of the witnesses to much of the history of modern Israel.
Interesting in 1977 that her husband Prime Minister Rabin resigned
during his first term when it was discovered that the First Lady
had violated currency regulations by having an illegal bank account
in the United States. This collection is of museum quality. $2,295.00
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