DISCURSO MINISTRA DE ASUNTOS EXTERIORES DE ISRAEL, TZIPI LIVNI. Versión inglés.

Excellencies, I am particularly touched to have travelled from Israel to Spain to join you all here today, together with representatives from Israel and heads of Jewish communities not only from here but from Europe and the whole world. I would like to thank the Spanish government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Moratinos, for the initiative that led to the establishment of this House. I would also like to make my thanks extensive, most particularly, to the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, and to the Madrid Regional President, Esperanza Aguirre, for their contribution to making the dream come true. Your support has turned a Government initiative into a project involving the general public and for that I thank you.

Spain and the Jewish people share a long history and a common tradition with its lights and shades; there were days of darkness but also a golden age. The roots of these magnificent cultures, the Spanish and the Jewish, drew from the same sources and their boughs intertwined, each bearing their distinctive fruit, but with elements in common.

Back in the 19th Century, Spanish historian José Amador de los Ríos wrote, "it is hard to consider the history of the Iberian Peninsula in any field; political, religious, scientific or literary, without finding on every page a significant event or a well-known name that has to do with the Hebrew nation".

Spain was also the home of splendid Sephardic Judaism. Cordoba was the birthplace of Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, the Rambam, Maimonides, about whom it was written that "Never did a single man give so much to his people and to humanity as Maimonides". His descendants, who were banished from Spain and today call themselves "Sephardic" Jews, have through the generations and to this very day continued to speak "ladino", despite the thousands of miles and hundreds of years that stand between them and Mediaeval Spain. In Israel´s synagogues today, they continue to exercise their praying tradition, born in Spain so many years ago.

In March 1992, 15 years ago and approximately 500 years after the Jews were banished from Spain, during President Herzog´s historical visit to Spain, King Juan Carlos I declared: "... we re-established diplomatic relations between our countries. On that occasion we turned a page on the past and threw our doors wide open to a spirit that would renew the ancient bonds between Sepharad and the Jewish people and the bonds between today´s Spain and Israel."

Casa Sefarad-Israel in Madrid must therefore stand as a symbol of this dual dimension. On the one hand, a protracted history, as splendid as it is complex, shared by the Spanish and Jewish peoples, with a past of Jewish splendour within Spanish culture and a Spanish imprint that remains to this day in Jewish culture. On the other hand, Casa Sefarad-Israel must stand for renewed and developed relations between Spain and Israel, two young democracies at opposite ends of the Mediterranean. Thus, Casa Sefarad-Israel is rooted in the past, and though it may draw from history, it points for us the way to the future.

The Spanish and Israeli peoples have both been through times of suffering, each in their own way. There could not be a more chilling description of Spain´s suffering during the Civil War and struggle for democracy than this by Spanish poet Leon Felipe:

Look: there is nothing left there.
By the edge of the waters
murky...a sword
and beyond...exodus,
a hungry and persecuted people
who flee.

The Jewish people´s suffering in Europe, I´m afraid there is no need to put it in words. But even today we hear speeches denying the Holocaust in Europe. Expressions such as these must cease. It is not Israel´s sole responsibility, it is not the Jewish people´s sole responsibility; all the world´s leaders are responsible for ensuring that the past´s suffering serve as a lesson for the future and lay the foundations for common values. Spain and Israel share the values of democracy, freedom and peace. We share a struggle against ongoing terrorism that strikes both peoples without mercy. And we share, to my understanding, a diverse cooperation in a range of fields that should expand over the coming years. This is our responsibility as leaders of two peoples and two states.

Here again, I am forced to say a few words, for despite the fact that our relations are based on shared values, on occasions we sense the influence of the Middle East conflict. I must say that this saddens me greatly as an Israeli. We are concerned by a rift that has appeared in the world between the reality in Israel, the threats we face and the values that guide the State of Israel and Israeli society on the one hand, and on the other, the way Israel is portrayed on TV screens and on the from pages of newspapers before public opinion. Some would have people believe it is Israel that causes extremism, when the opposite is true. It is we who face the extremists that sometimes won´t even recognize the existence of Israel in the Middle East. Therefore, since I believe we share common values, values of vision, a vision of peace, I am convinced we can work together because Israel will do everything in its power to realise the dream of peace in the Middle East, while we defend ourselves from the threats posed by extremist elements. The threats they pose not only for us, as the State of Israel, but for the entire free world. That is why I believe in a necessary cooperation between free world leaders everywhere.

It is important to underline the fact that at present, these very days, Israel and moderate Arab elements are holding talks, directly, even in such difficult times as the present ones, thanks amongst others to the historic Madrid Conference held 15 years ago. I believe it is our duty to continue to develop relations both between people and states: two countries with a long history, two states with shared interests and a shared vision, and two peoples, -this is perhaps the most important- with shared values.

For many years we have neglected the need to develop relations between Spain and Israel and it is therefore our calling to close any existing gaps and step up our efforts. Casa Sefarad-Israel is but an example of the responsibility we face regarding the future.

As we have heard, Casa Sefarad-Israel shall focus on developing relations between both states, as well as on questions of interest to Jews around the world, and Israel, we cannot forget, is the only democracy in the Middle East and was conceived as a Jewish homeland for all the world´s Jews. We are forced to face hatred and anti-semitism. The struggle against these two phenomena is a struggle common to all those who share the same culture. It is a struggle that must be continued by the next generation if we are to reach beyond shallow impressions and stereotypes into the heart of mankind.

Thank you.