YouSaid · the spoken record

Tzipi Livni

lines on the record: 35
first: 2006-09-24
most recent: 2007-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“For 3,000 years, these temporary huts, open to the elements, have been a reminder that stability and security are ensured not only by the structures that we build but also by the values that we share. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Sukkah, this fragile shelter, has become the Jewish symbol of peace. We turn to Jerusalem and say in our prayers every day: Spread over us the canopy of your peace. May it be in our days, and for all nations.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“And we must stand up to those who see democracy as a tool to advance hate, who see tolerance as a one-way street and who see education as a means of poisoning the minds of the next generation. I believe that, despite all the obstacles, there is a new moment of opportunity and an alliance of interest that favours peace. Time is of the essence. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to find both the courage and the wisdom to make the right choices in the right way. On this festival of Sukkot, Jews commemorate the journey from slavery to freedom by leaving their homes to live in fragile huts, like the shelters in which our ancestors lived on their way to the Promised Land.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It comes through enhancing and deepening regional ties and cooperation between the Arab world and Israel, while in parallel we advance towards Israeli-Palestinian peace. And, finally, it comes by confronting those determined to prevent us from succeeding. We must stand up to those who have no respect for human life or human liberty, those who hold captive soldiers - Gilad Shalit, Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - whose families are with us today and whose pain remains always in our hearts. We must stand up to those who, after we withdrew from Gaza to give peace a chance, chose not to build but to destroy and who choose, on a daily basis, to target Israeli homes and kindergartens with their missiles.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“But practical progress is possible in those areas where there is an effective Palestinian Government that accepts the Quartet’s principles and implements, alongside Israel, the existing Road Map obligations. As the parties take the risks for peace, we look to the international community and the Arab and Muslim world to offer support, not to stipulate conditions. This support comes in many forms. It comes through economic and political assistance to the new Palestinian Government committed to coexistence and seeking to build the foundations of a peaceful and prosperous State. It comes through the clear endorsement of any political understandings reached between the parties.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“As we make progress on concrete political understandings, it is just as important to change the reality on the ground to show Palestinians and Israelis that the promise of peace exists in practice, not just on paper. In recent months, Israel has taken tangible measures to create a better environment, and we are ready to do more. We know that Palestinian life is full of day-to-day hardship. We know also, and only too well, the burden of terror that Israelis bear and of our primary obligation to their security. Together, we can change this reality; we do not need to submit to it. We are not naive. We can see the difficulties ahead and the enemies of peace that stand in our way.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The first of these principles is: two States, two homelands. Just as Israel is homeland to the Jewish people, so Palestine will be established as the homeland and the national answer for the Palestinian people, including the refugees. The second is: living side by side in peace and security. Just as a viable and prosperous Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza is an Israeli interest, so must a secure Israel be a Palestinian interest. The world cannot afford another terror State. Guided by these principles, the parties can define a common border and turn the two-State vision from a dream into reality. To succeed, we must set our sights on a brighter future, while responding to the challenges of the present and learning the lessons of the past.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“These thoughts are in my mind as we seek, today, to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. Reconciliation is not about deciding who was right or who was wrong in the past; it is about sharing a common vision and a common responsibility for the future. In the last months, Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas have been engaged in a sincere and genuine effort to reach the widest possible common ground on political understandings. There is no substitute for the bilateral process. Failure is not an option, but it is for the parties themselves to define success. The foundation for true peace lies in the vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. The world shares this vision, but it is also important that it clearly embrace the two core principles that emerge from it.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It is time to reclaim religion from those who have made it a weapon rather than a shelter. It is time to reclaim education from those who use it as a tool of hate rather than an opportunity. As always, the most powerful form of education, and the hardest, is to teach by example. We cannot expect our younger generation to value what we are not prepared ourselves to protect and pay a price for. And there is a price to pay. From the leader who has to withstand public pressures. From the businessman who has to forgo economic opportunity. From the teacher and spiritual guide who must find the inner strength to teach truth and tolerance in a climate of extremism and hostility. At all levels of society, there is a price to be paid. But if we do not pay it today, we, and those who follow us, will face a far greater bill tomorrow.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Israel has never tried to avoid genuine discussion of its human rights record. But so long as the Council maintains its wildly disproportionate focus on Israel, it weakens the moral voice of the United Nations, and the price of this blindness is paid by the victims of human rights atrocities in Darfur and Myanmar and throughout the world. There is no more accurate forecast for the future of a society than the lessons we teach our children. Unfortunately, in our region, we see children’s television programmes in which Mickey Mouse puppets teach the glory of being a suicide bomber and a seven-year old girl sings of her dreams of blood and battle. Religion, rather than being a source of hope and spiritual healing, is abused as a call to arms, as God is dragged once again onto the field of battle.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“But there are still those who, in the name of consensus and engagement, continue to obstruct the urgent steps that are needed to bring Iran’s sinister ambitions to a halt. Too many see the danger, but they walk idly by, hoping that someone else will take care of it. What is the value, we have to ask, of an organization which is unable to take effective action in the face of a direct assault on the very principles it was founded to protect? It is time for the United Nations, and the States of the world, to live up to their promise of never again, to say enough is enough, to act now and to defend their basic values. It is also time to see this same kind of moral conviction in the Human Rights Council, so that it can become a shield for the victims of human rights, not a weapon for its abusers.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Instead, groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah must be presented with a clear choice between the path of violence and the path of legitimacy. They cannot have both. And it is this same stark choice that must be presented to the radical regime in Iran. No responsible State disagrees that Iran is the most prominent sponsor of terrorism. It is a major source of instability and conflict in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and across the entire Middle East; and it is the enemy of Arab-Israeli coexistence. No one disagrees that Iran denies the Holocaust and speaks openly of its desire to wipe a Member State mine off the map. And no one disagrees that, in violation of Security Council resolutions, it is actively pursuing the means to achieve this end.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The goal of such a universal code is not to dictate our values or to stifle legitimate voices with which we may disagree. Its goal is to protect core democratic values from those determined to use the democratic system against itself; and to make clear that participation in the democratic process is not just a right it is also a responsibility. I know that the temptation to engage with extremists can be strong. It may seem to promise stability and quiet. We may hope that by feeding the beast we can gradually tame it. As free societies, we pride ourselves, rightly, on our respect for difference and diversity. But we do a disservice to diversity when, in its name, we tolerate the intolerant. Bitter experience has shown that buying off extremists is a short-term fix for which we will pay dearly in the long run.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Violent extremists who could never run for office at home are treated as legitimate politicians when elected elsewhere. As a result, we empower those who use democratic means to advance anti-democratic ends. And we strengthen the forces of those who not only undermine their societies but also threaten our own. Today, from this podium, I call on the international community to adopt at the global level what democracies apply at the national one: a universal set of standards for participation in genuine democratic elections. We need a universal democratic code that requires that all those seeking the legitimacy of the democratic process earn it by respecting such principles as State monopoly over the lawful use of force, the rejection of racism and violence and the protection of the rights of others.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Today, in different parts of the world, extremists, who are opposed to the very ideals of democracy, are entering the democratic process, not to abandon their violent agenda but to advance it. As a spokesman for Al-Qaida recently declared, “We will use your democracy to destroy your democracy”. This should be a wake-up call for all of us. It is time to reclaim democracy, and this begins by rejecting those who abuse it. Genuine democracy is about values before it is about voting. No true democracy on Earth allows armed militia or groups with racist or violent agendas to participate in elections. But some demonstrate a troubling double standard. There are some who insist on high standards in their own country but forget them when they look abroad.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It is in this spirit that I would like to speak today about resolving our particular conflict, but also about the wider battle being waged today the battle that affects us all. This battle is global, not just because it targets civilians everywhere, but also because the extremists have taken aim at the fundamental pillars of every modern society namely, democracy, tolerance and education. These are the new battlefields of the twenty-first century, and it is in these arenas, more than any other, that the future of our world will be decided. I believe in democracy. I believe in its extraordinary power to produce free and peaceful societies founded on respect for human rights. Democracy is a profound ideal, but it is also a vulnerable one.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The notion that this battle is a local one, limited to isolated regions, collapsed in this city with the twin towers on a September morning six years ago. Today, it is clear that the extremists are engaged in a bloody war against civilians and communities, against hearts and minds, in every corner of the world. And it is clear, too, that the Middle East conflict is not the cause of this global extremist agenda, but a consequence of it. Yes, it is up to the parties in the Middle East to settle their political conflict, and Israel, for its part, desires to do so. But for success to be genuine and lasting, you, the nations of the world, need to be partners in a shared global struggle against the extremism and terror that feed conflict, for your sake, not just for ours.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The conflict in our region is driven by those who reject these core values those who seek power without responsibility, those whose aim is not to realize their own rights but to deny those rights for others. At its heart, this is a conflict not about territory, but about values. There is, of course, a territorial dimension to our dispute. We know this and, as we have proven in the past, we are prepared for the territorial compromise that lasting peace entails. But we also know, especially after withdrawing from Lebanon and Gaza, that territorial withdrawal by itself will not bring peace unless we address the core clash of values that lies beneath the conflict. Israel may be on the front lines of this battle, but it is not our fight alone. This is a global battle.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Three thousand years ago, the people of Israel journeyed from slavery in Egypt to independence in the land of Israel. The Bible tells us that on their voyage to liberty they made a crucial stop and received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. As the General Assembly gathers this year, the Jewish people recall that historic journey by marking the festival of Sukkot. And every year, at this time, our people remember that the long march to freedom requires the acceptance of humanity’s basic values. For 60 years, since the rebirth of our State in our ancient homeland, with Jerusalem at its heart, we have not lost sight of this principle. The core values of tolerance, coexistence and peace that lie at the heart of every democracy must be protected within societies and promoted between them. This is the calling of our generation.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“06-52885 46 The Jewish prayers tell us that this is a time of decision not just for individuals but also for States: “which for the sword and which for peace, which for famine and which for plenty”. Those are sobering words, but they are also empowering ones. The message of these special days is that no future is predetermined; no conflict is inevitable. It is up to us to make the right choices. History will judge us by them. In the words of the traditional greeting: may the curses of the last year end; may the blessing of the new year begin. Shana tova: may it be a good year.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“And it is in this spirit that I met with Chairman Abbas two days ago, and we agreed to re- energize the dialogue between us and create a permanent channel to pursue ways to advance together. The parties do not need another forum to act out their differences, and the only forum that will resolve them is the bilateral negotiating table. We have no illusions about the difficulties before us. We must face them not ignore them. But we can advance along the road to peace if we have the strength to defend its principles and the courage to confront its enemies. In these days, while Jews prepare to welcome a new year, Muslims around the world prepare for the holy month of Ramadan. As two great faiths begin their annual journey of reflection and decision, let the nations of the world begin it too.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The road map phases and the three international conditions are designed precisely for that purpose. But if the world hesitates in enforcing these standards, the extremists sense opportunity. And if it appeases, they sense victory. This is the moment for determination not half-measures and vague formulations. It is the moment to demand that those Palestinian leaders that believe in peace determine the future on these terms, not on the terms of terrorists. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts on the road to peace. But stagnation is not in our interest, and it is not our policy. It is in this spirit that Israel embarked on the painful process of disengagement, to create an opportunity for progress. But, sadly, we received terror in return.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We have seen them lay the ground for greater violence, not greater understanding. We cannot afford to repeat that experience. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority is dominated today by a terrorist organization that teaches children to hate and seeks to transform the conflict from a resolvable political dispute into an endless religious confrontation. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consequence and not the cause of this ideology of intolerance and hatred. We cannot reach peace by ignoring these realities. We cannot find the solutions for tomorrow without addressing the problems of today. But we also cannot give up hope, and I refuse to do so. In a Middle East where being moderate is often the same as being weak, our challenge is to empower the peacemakers and disempower their opponents.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“There are those who believe that if only we could turn back the hands of time to 1967 all would be resolved. But, in 1967 there was no Palestinian State; there was no link between the West Bank and Gaza; and there was no commitment to lasting peace. A two-State solution requires the creation of a new reality which never existed in the past. For it to succeed, both sides will need to commit themselves to compromise and to believe in coexistence. If only we could end the conflict today. But we have learned from bitter experience that to reach lasting peace it is not enough to have a vision. Peace must be built on the solid foundations of shared values, not the shifting sands of false promises. Without this, the political horizon will always be out of reach. We have seen negotiations doomed by mistrust and frustration.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“On the basis of this principle the international community has insisted that the State of Palestine that emerges next to Israel cannot be a terror State. A terrorist State is the last thing our troubled region needs. It is for that reason that the road map requires an end to terror. It is for that reason that the international community has demanded that any Palestinian Government fulfil three basic conditions: renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Those conditions are not an obstacle to peace or to the establishment of a responsible Palestinian State; they are a crucial ingredient for the realization of those goals. An end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will also require agreement on a common boundary.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“And this is the true calling of the future State of 45 06-52885 Palestine: a national homeland for the Palestinian people — the solution to Palestinian claims, the fulfilment of Palestinian dreams, the answer for Palestinian refugees, wherever they may be. If Palestinian leaders are unwilling to say this, the world should say it for them. Instead of giving false hope, it is time to end the exploitation of the refugee issue and to begin to resolve it on the basis of the vision of two States, two homelands. That is the real and only meaning of the two-State vision. It requires each people to accept that their rights are realized through the establishment of their own homeland, not in the homeland of others. The second principle for peace is drawn from the concept of living in peace and security.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“There is, in fact, a common vision that binds together Israelis, moderate Palestinians and the international community. It serves the goals of both peoples and represents the basis of a genuine and lasting peace. At its heart is the vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Israel believes in this vision, and from this vision we have drawn our principles for peace. The first is inherent in the very idea of two States. For the Jewish people, Israel was established to be our national homeland. It was the solution for Jewish refugees and the realization of Jewish rights.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Israel will not rest until all the Israeli hostages are returned safely to the arms of their devoted families and to the embrace of a loving nation. Let us all make them the same promise today. Last year, a great leader of Israel, Ariel Sharon, stood before this forum and said: “The Palestinians will always be our neighbours. We respect them and have no aspirations to rule over them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a State of their own.” (A/60/PV.5, p.46) That was not only the voice and vision of one man. It is the voice and vision of a nation. We do not believe that Israeli-Palestinian relations are of necessity a zero-sum game. Not every Israeli interest is at odds with Palestinian interests.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Armed, financed and directed by Iran, Hizbullah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and targeted Israeli cities, but it was the hopes of an entire region that they sought to take hostage. Out of the conflict — and because of Israel’s response to it — opportunity has emerged, but much is needed to turn opportunity into reality. Hizbullah can never again be allowed to threaten the future of the region. The world faces a critical test — to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701 (2006) and the immediate and safe release of the Israeli hostages. As we gather here, we think of anxious families that ache for the return of their loved ones — parents waiting for a son, a brother for a brother, a wife for a husband.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The international community is faced with no greater responsibility than to stand against that dark and growing danger — not for Israel’s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our children to inherit. What more needs to happen for the world to take the threat seriously? What more needs to happen to end the hesitation and the excuses? We know the lessons of the past. We know the consequences of appeasement and indifference. There is no place for such leaders in this forum. There is no place for such a regime in the family of nations. For any who still had doubts, the Iranian threat was exposed to all in the recent conflict in Lebanon.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“To protect its integrity, the international community must uphold that basic moral distinction. Terror is terror, even when it is called resistance. It cannot be justified and it cannot be equated with the actions of those seeking only to defend themselves against it. If we want to protect our values, it is not enough to believe in them — we must act according to them. There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran. They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve that objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world. The moment of truth is here.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“To many, this conflict is portrayed as a clash of David and Goliath, with Israel perceived unjustly as Goliath, but this simplistic image ignores the fact that Israel remains a threatened democracy in a hostile region. We have, of necessity, the capacity to defend ourselves, but we will always be constrained in its use by our values. And yet, we face an enemy willing to use all the means at its disposal to kill without restraint and without distinction. Every innocent casualty in this conflict is a tragedy. There is no difference between the tears of a grieving Israeli mother and a grieving Palestinian mother, but there is a critical moral difference between the terrorists who hunt down civilians and the soldiers who target terrorists while trying to avoid civilian casualties.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The second is that Israel is a democracy and that the values of justice, peace and humanity — first expressed by the prophets of Israel — are an integral part of our nation’s sense of mission. We share the same values as the community of democratic States. We are ready and proud to be judged by them. They are our own. 06-52885 44 But too often there is a gap between perception and reality. Too often, Israel is not seen for its unique creativity and spirit of enterprise, or for its contribution — well beyond its size — to the sciences and to literature, to human development and innovation. In many parts of the world, we are seen mainly through the lens of the Arab-Israeli conflict. And too often, that lens is distorted.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Our nation has felt its fury; our soldiers have fought and died in its battles. An ancient people in the heart of the Middle East — great in history but small in number — we have been a constant target of those that oppose our very existence. We face this conflict on different fronts — as Jews against the dark forces of anti- Semitism, as Israelis against the enemies of our statehood, and as members of the free world against the merchants of global terror. We have been guided in this conflict by two core values that are embodied in our declaration of independence and shape our national identity. The first is that Israel, with Jerusalem at its heart, is the national homeland of the Jewish people, their refuge from persecution, their first and last line of defence.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The United Nations emerged from the horrors of war and offered a vision of a new and peaceful world, but we see the suffering of the people of Darfur, we see bloodshed and violence across the globe, and we know that that is not yet the world in which we live. Our planet remains torn by conflict, At its heart, this is a conflict about values — a battle of ideas. It is a conflict about whether to respect or to reject the other — a conflict between tolerance and tyranny, between the promise of coexistence and the hopelessness of hate. We see it played out in internet chat rooms and in houses of prayer, in classrooms and newsrooms, on the battlefield and in the corridors of power. It is the challenge of our time. We, the people of Israel, have lived for many years on the frontlines of this conflict.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“These days, the days of the general debate of the General Assembly, fall this year at a time of unique significance for the Jewish people. They come on the eve of the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement and are known as the Days of Awe. In Jewish tradition, these are days of soul- searching and prayer, of judgement and of renewal. That concept of reflection is fitting not just for the faithful. It should be a time of reflection for nations as well. Let us use this time and this gathering to look deeply and honestly at the world in which we live — the world as it is and as it might be.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)