Francais
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Apr 20, 2007 statement by Irwin Cotler on the issue of Israel and the Peace Process

Statement by Irwin Cotler


"Mr. Speaker, we are on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the state of Israel.

Israel is not simply a CNN clip or what passes for the Internet image of the day. Rather, it should be seen and understood as the embodiment of Jewish survival and self-determination, the reconstitution of an ancient people in its ancestral homeland.

In a word, the Jewish people still inhabit the same land, embrace the same religion, study the same Bible, hearken to the same prophets, speak the same aboriginal language and bear the same aboriginal name as they did 3,500 years ago, and whose abiding hope and dream is to live in peace with the other indigenous nations and peoples of the Middle East.

May I conclude with the age old Hebrew prayer for peace in the original Hebrew language:

[Member spoke in Hebrew as follows:]

Oseh Shalom Bimromov, Who Yaaseh Shalom, Alenu V'al Kol Israel, V'imeru, Amen.

[English]

May God who establishes peace on high, grant peace for us all, Amen.

May this 59th anniversary usher in a real, just, and lasting peace for all peoples of the Middle East."