On the Occasion of 60th Birthday- September 5th, 2004

Good evening. Thank you for coming.

Most of you were at my 50^th birthday celebration. Not only were we ten years younger then. It was also a different Israel.

 

Yitzhak [Rabin] was still with us. His greetings to me that night, so very complimentary, will remain in my heart forever. Back then, in September 1994, we had great hopes. That month marked the signing of the peace treaty with Jordan, and we were making significant progress in our relations with the Palestinians. The economy was beginning to blossom. We had the strength to perform, to govern, to accomplish.

 

One year later, Yitzhak was assassinated, and since then, Israel has known not one single good day.

 

I owe both you and myself an account of what I have done as your public servant over these last ten years, other than to turn grey. As Minister of Health in the Rabin government, my policy was one of equality in medicine. All citizens paid a medical tax proportionate to their income, and everyone received whatever they needed to remain healthy. I fought against the medical black market. Every medication was included in the government �basket,� and there was no need for complementary medical insurance that the poor are unable to afford. I worked to improve and expand hospitals in outlying areas: Poriya, Safed, Nahariya, Soroka, and Ashkelon.

 

In 1997, I sought the position of Labor Party chairman. My slogan was, �The truth will win out.� I lost, but the truth did win out. Everyone discovered, a little too late, that I was right. What the Labor Party needs is cooperative leadership, not a savior of the hour. The person at its head must be a captain who leads an all-star team, not a musical ensemble.

 

In the 1999 elections, I took charge of the party�s recruitment of new immigrants. Within two months, I increased their support for our candidate from 18% to 58%. And it was the immigrant vote that tipped the scales and put us in control of the government. As Deputy Minister of Defense, I opened new doors for our defense-related exports. I set one of the country�s most important strategic programs into motion, put the brakes on settlement expansion, coordinated our response to the Iranian threat, and foiled a few sinister plans that could have taken the lives of many Israelis.

 

As Minister of Transportation, I mapped the country�s rail system for the next 20 years, with special priority to the Galilee and Negev � a cross-Negev train from Ashkelon to Beer Sheva, via Sderot, Ofakim, and Netivot; a train from Haifa to Beit Shean; a train to Carmiel; a train to Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem; a high-speed train from Tel Aviv to Modiin and Jerusalem; a train from Rishon L�Tsion to Tel Aviv. All of these plans emerged from my office and are now in various stages of implementation. You can rob me of the credit, but not the satisfaction. I protected the interests of El Al employees, taxi drivers, and railway and Public Works Department staff. There�s no shame in that. I�m proud of it.

 

Since the breakup of the unity government, I have been engaged, essentially, in a battle of containment � rather than a rearguard battle � over the path of the Labor Party. Its path is one of a social-democratic party, guided by the defense legacy of Yitzhak Rabin and run in a democratic fashion. I won some battles and lost others. Though there were times I compromised to keep peace in the party ranks, the most important principles were never open to debate. I may have made a few political mistakes over the years, but none of them were ethical mistakes.

 

I proved we can work together, to work as a team. I worked with Fuad [Benjamin Ben-Eliezer] to draft a peace plan for the Labor Party; with representatives of the Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, I drafted what is called the �Gaza Pilot;� and at the moment, I am privileged to be among the architects of an Israeli-Palestinian plan for building on the impetus of the disengagement to reach new agreements.

 

I�m still not tired, and I still haven�t given up. If anything, I�ve become stronger. What is it that gives me strength? Three things:

 

Faith � the faith that it�s possible to build a different Israel � just, beautiful, clean; the faith that we can reach an agreement with the Palestinians to end the war and give both of us new hope; the faith that we can succeed, govern, change the current reality.

 

Family � my wife Tiki and our daughters Havi and Racheli � my basis of support. On Sunday mornings, I�m already thinking about next Friday night�s kiddush and our Sabbath evening meal together. It is that thought that gives me strength.

 

And you, my friends. Those who were with me during the dark nights of battles and wars. Those who were with me on sunnier days. Those who are my steadfast partners in the political system. You are with me and I am with you. I haven�t met all your expectations. But all of you know that in difficult times, you need only call and I�m there, one hundred percent. For each and every one of you and for all of you together, I�m here as your steel support.

 

The coming year may be a decisive one that determines if the next few years will be good or bad ones. It will be a year of big and fateful decisions. If we work together in the right way, we will be able to tip the scales.

 

Speaking from the vantage point of this advanced age, I can promise that you will see me for at least another ten years, fighting, leading, and � with you � also winning. Thank you for coming. I love you dearly, and I wish you and your families a happy, peaceful, and healthy New Year.

 

 

 

7/2/2005