Address by PM Netanyahu on the occasion of Jerusalem Day State Ceremony,
Ammunition Hill, Jerusalem
Translation

21/05/2009
www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechjeru210509.htm

Honorable President, Mr. Shimon Peres,
Honorable Speaker of the Knesset, Mr. Reuven Rivlin,
President of the Supreme Court, Justice Dorit Beinish,
Ministers, Members of Knesset,
Chairman of the Opposition,
Israel's Chief Rabbi, Yona Metzger,
Chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi,
Dear Bereaved Families,
IDF Fighters and their Families,
Distinguished Guests,

Last night I returned to Jerusalem, our capital, from a very important visit
to Washington, capital of the United States. It was very important for me
to come back to participate in this ceremony and say the same things I said
in the United States:

United Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Jerusalem has always been - and
always will be - ours. It will never again be divided or cut in half.
Jerusalem will remain only under Israel's sovereignty. In united Jerusalem,
the freedom of worship and freedom of access for all three religions to the
holy sites will be guaranteed, and it is the only way to guarantee that
members of all faiths, minorities and denominations can continue living here
safely.

Distinguished guests,

For nineteen years Jerusalem was a wounded city; a city at the heart of
which were barbed wires and minefields, firing posts and "no-man's lands"; a
city whose main streets were covered with defensive walls against snipers; a
city whose residents could not move freely from place to place. In June
1967, this situation changed forever. It changed in this place, on
Ammunition Hill, and in other heroic battles inside Jerusalem.

You, fighters for the liberation of Jerusalem, with your bodies and with the
blood of your comrades, pried open the chokehold, united the city together,
and allowed Jerusalem to be reopened once again as a lively, vibrant city.

I enlisted shortly after the liberation of Jerusalem and I met with one of
the fighters, who is here with us today, Nir Nitzan. He did not voluntarily
tell us; we had to repeatedly ask him to tell us what happened here, in that
battle. Ultimately, quietly, shortly, dryly even, he told us a little of
what took place here on that day, and we, as youngsters, stood in awe of the
greatness of spirit, solidarity and sacrifice of those fighters who fought
here, and the many others who fought in other places. The fighters who fell
instilled pride in our people and gave us back our capital. As a boy, that
day was etched in my memory. I remember the elation following the words of
Motta Gur, when we heard the news on the radio and Motta Gur announced: "Har
Habayit is in our hands!" The excitement we felt was something neither we
nor any other Jew experienced for generations. It lifted the hearts of Jews
all over the world.

Another remarkable thing happened: thousands, thousands of Israeli citizens,
not only from Jerusalem, but from all over the country, rushed in masses
into the Old City, passing through roads that were previously blocked,
places we were never allowed to set foot in, through barbed wires, along the
now shattered separation walls, climbing rocks and entering into back
alleys - all of us heading towards the same place: the Western Wall. I
remember that the square was narrow - in fact, there was no square at all -
and the place was too narrow to contain the large masses, and each of us
waited our turn to arrive at that ancient wall. I remember the beating of my
heart and the exhilaration I felt when I first touched the stones of the
Western Wall, thinking about King David, King Solomon, Israel's prophets and
kings and the Maccabim. I thought about the people of Israel throughout the
generations, as did the thousands of Israelis who arrived there. The
liberation of Jerusalem and the Western Wall marked for all of us the deep
connection to the roots of Jewish history. We felt that the dream of
generations had finally come true.

Thousands of years ago, a Psalms poet wrote: "built-up Jerusalem is like a
city that is united together". It is as if this song was written now about
the events of our generation.

Look around you and see how Jerusalem is built, how it is connected, how it
grows and develops to the east and west, north and south. Jews, Muslims and
Christians, religious and secular, ultra-orthodox and conservatives live
here in peace and good neighborly relations.

Look around you and see how vibrant and full of life Jerusalem is, during
the day and night. The houses of prayer and synagogues are filled, as are
the cafés and recreational places.

But Jerusalem is not only a city of the day-to-day or night life. It is
first and foremost a city of sanctity, a city of vision, a city of prayer;
the eyes of the entire world are fixed on Jerusalem. As Isaiah prophesized:
"it will happen in the end of days: The mountain of the Temple of the
Almighty will be firmly established as the head of the mountains, and it
will be exalted above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it.for
from Zion will the Torah come forth, and the word of the Almighty from
Jerusalem".

Since the unification of Jerusalem under Israel's flag, this prophecy has
been gradually coming true. Never, in the thousands of years of its
history, has Jerusalem been so great and remarkable, never did it have such
freedom of worship for members of all faiths and such free access to all
places of worship. Pilgrims, believers and visitors from all ends of the
universe visit Jerusalem every day.

Our connection to Jerusalem is thousands of years old. As a people, we have
never relinquished "the apple of our eye", the object of our prayers, our
nation's capital, Jerusalem. Today, as a state, we are fulfilling this
age-old yearning, this ancient wish.

The greatest hardships, exiles and difficulties in history could never
dissuade us from pursuing the realization of the Jewish people's dream of
generations - the establishment of a state in the land of Israel, with
Jerusalem as its capital. This was the wish of every Jew in exile, at every
community and in every prayer: "next year in built-up Jerusalem". I believe
that only the reuniting of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty would enable
us to quickly fulfill the second part of Isaiah's prophecy: "they shall beat
their swords into plowshares.nation will not lift sword against nation and
they will no longer learn how to wage warfare".

This is our prayer, and this is our hope here in Jerusalem.