George Bush
Mikhail Gorbachev
Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa
Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir
Jordanian Foreign Minister, Kamil Abu Jabir
Head of Palestininian Delegation, Hayder Abd al-Shafi
Syrian Foreign Minister, Faruq Al-Shara'
Lebanese Foreign Minister, Faris Buwayz

George Bush: "... We come to Madrid on a mission of hope -- to begin work on a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement to the conflict in the Middle East. We come here to seek peace for a part of the world that in the long memory of man has known far too much hatred, anguish and war. I can think of no endeavor more worthy -- or more necessary. Our objective must be clear and straightforward. It is not simply to end the state of war in the Middle East and replace it with a state of non-belligerency. This is not enough. This would not last. Rather, we seek peace, real peace. And by real peace I mean treaties, security, diplomatic relations, economic relations, trade, investment, cultural exchange. Even tourism...

"What we seek is a Middle East where vast resources are no longer devoted to armaments. A Middle East where young people no longer have to dedicate and, all too often, give their lives to combat. A Middle East no longer victimized by fear and terror. A Middle East where normal men and women lead normal lives. Let no one mistake the magnitude of this challenge. The struggle we seek to end has a long and painful history. Every life lost -- every outrage, every act of violence -- is etched deep in the hearts and history of the people of this region. Theirs is a history that weighs against hope. And yet, history need not be man's master...

"We come here to Mardid as realists. We do not expect peace to be negotiated in a day, or a week, or a month, or even a year. It will take time -- indeed, it should take time -- for parties so long at war to learn to talk to one another, to listen to one another. Time to heal old wounds and build trust. In this quest, time need not be the enemy of progress.

"What we envision is a process of direct negotiations proceeding along two tracks, one between Israel and the Arab state the other between Israel and the Palestinians. Negotiations are to be conducted on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. The real work will not happen here in the plenary session, but in direct bilateral negotiations. This conference cannot impose a settlement on the participants or veto agreements and just as important, the conference can only be reconvened with the consent of every participant. Progress is in the hands of the parties who must live with the consequences.

"Soon after the bilateral talks commence, parties will covene as well to organize multilateral negotiations. These will focus on issues that cross national boundaries and are common to the region: arms control, water, refugee concerns, economic development. Progress in these four issues is not intended as a substitute for what must be decided in the bilateral talks. To the contrary, progress in the multilateral issues can help create an atmosphere in which long-standing bilateral disputes can more easily be settled.

For Israel and the Palestinians, a framework already exists for diplomacy. Negotiations will be conducted in phases, beginning with talks on interim self-Government arrangements. We aim to reach agreement within one year, and once agreed, interim self-Government arrangements will last for five years. Beginning with any precision what the end result will be. In our view, something must be developed, something acceptable to Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan, that gives the Palestinian people meaningful control over their own lives and fate and provides for the acceptance and security of Israel...

"I want to say something about the role of the United States of America. We played an active role in making this conference possible. Both the Secretary of State, James Baker, and I will play an active role in helping the process succeed. Toward this end, we've provided written assurances to Israel, to Syria, to Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians. In the spirit of openness and honesty, we will brief all parties on the assurances that we have provided to the other. We're prepared to extend guarantees, provide technology and support, if that is what peace requires. And we will call upon our friends and allies in Europe and in Asia to join with us in providing resources so that peace and prosperity go hand in hand.

"Outsiders can assist, but in the end, it is up to the peoples and Governments of the Middle East to shape the future of the Middle East. At is their opportunity and it is their responsibility to do all that they can to take advantage of this gathering, the historic gathering, and what it symbolizes and what it promises.."

Mikhail Gorbachev: "... The composition of the participants as well as the nature and objectives of this conference are eloquent testimony to the fact that we are participants in an event of major importance in new world politics. The road to this point was strewn with thousands of victims, with devastation's and calamities suffered by whole peoples. It was marred by hatred and atrocities, and many were the crossroads on the path that were fraught with danger of global conflagration. This conflict, the longest in the latter half of the 20th century, bears the heavy stamp of the so-called cold war, and it was not until an end was put to that, that ending this conflict became a tangible possibility, too.

"... I must say a few words about the role of the two powers whose presidents are now before you as co-chairmen of the conference. It was the will of history that without an improvement and then a radical change in Soviet U.S. relations we would never have witnessed the profound qualitative changes in the world that now make it possible to speak in terms of an entirely new age, an age of peace in world history. Movement in that direction has begun. And it is only in this context that we can understand the fact that a tangible hope has emerged for an Arab-Israeli settlement.

"Cooperation between the two powers and other members of the UN Security Council was indispensable in order to stop the aggression against Kuwait and to reaffirm the viability of a new criteria in international relations. Directly after that, just as was agreed between President Bush and myself in September 1990 at our Helsinki meeting on the subject of the Gulf war, vigorous joint efforts began aimed at achieving a Middle East settlement.

"All that we and the Americans have undertaken to that end signifies the right conclusions have been drawn from the Gulf war. Our joint participation in the process of settlement was prompted by a desire to offer out good offices, not any desire to impose solutions from outside that would run counter to the national interests of states in the region.. Today we have a unique opportunity and it would be unforgivable to miss this opportunity. Success is in everybody's interest, not only because the rights of the peoples and nation and of the individual are increasingly recognized today as the universal foundation for our world order.

"But also for another reason of particular urgency and gravity, and that is the fact that the Middle East has become one of the most heavily armed regions in the world, where other weapons of mass destruction are also to be found. There is justified cause for alarm. The international community is entitled to expect that this conference will come up with decisions that will put this concern to rest. In my view, the conference can only succeed if no one seeks any victory for one side over the other but all seek a shared victory over a cruel past. I'm speaking of peace rather than mainly a cessation of the state of war, and a durable peace implies the implementation of and respect for the rights of the Palestinian people.

"We have restored diplomatic relations with Israel. Now that deep-rooted democratic changes are taking place in our country and in the world, and now that a real process towards settling the Middle East crisis is getting underway, the absence of relations with Israel was becoming senseless. We hope, and we'll try to make sure that this will be a benefit to the peoples of our two countries and the entire Arab world. Peace in the Middle East and Near East would benefit all. The region has vast potential. Turned to constructive pursuits, it will help not only to resolve the problems of the nations that live there, but will also become an important pillar of support for global, international progress and prosperity. We must break the fetters of the past, and do away with hostility, militarism, terrorism, hostage taking, and those actions that turn people into refugees."

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa: ".... It (the Arab-Israeli conflict) is a conflict over rights, claims, counter claims which have to be reconciled but not denied or suppressed... Egypt is bound by historic, cultural ties and legal obligations with its Arab brethren, and the peace relationship with Israel, which would warrant a staunch support of their legitimate demands for the implementation of United Nations Resolution 242 and 338 and to help evolve a framework of a viable peace, security and cooperation among all countries of the Middle East parties to this conflict... Egypt, at one of its finest moments in 1973, called for peace. In 1977 (it) pioneered their march toward peace. In 1979 (it) endorsed this peace with Israel. Throughout our tireless and undaunting efforts for peace, our position has always been and will always be grounded in our commitment to international legitimacy, to the UN charter and its resolutions...

"Peace which we intend to establish, to consolidate and safeguard, should be built in the formula of land for peace as reflected in security Council Resolution 242 which unequivocally reaffirmed the inherent principle of the UN charter on the inadmissibility of acquisition of territories by force, and the rights of all states to live in peace and security. This peace is based on a number of fundamentals, basics and factors . It means right for right, obligation. Security for security, sovereignty for sovereignty. In our conviction, this and only this can fulfill the formula peace for peace...

"Basic fundamental requirements have to be respected and met.

First: The legal status of the Palestinian people should not be challenges..

Second: The West bank, Gaza and Golan Heights are occupied Arab territories subject to the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 242. They are not also conquered territories..

Third: Settlements established in territories occupied since 1967 including Jerusalem are illegal.. They have to be stopped as they obstruct peace.

Fourth: The holy city of Jerusalem has its special status. It should remain free, accessible and sacred to all followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism... The Arab-Israeli dispute is in essence and Israeli-Palestinian conflict... The time has come to free the Middle East from sources of tension, weapons of mass destruction, primarily nuclear, so that resources hitherto squandered on an arms race will be directed for development needs, common welfare and prosperity."

Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir: ".. To appreciate the meaning of peace for the people of Israel, one has to view today's Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel against the background of our history. Jews have been persecuted throughout the ages in almost every continent. Some countries barely tolerated us, others oppressed, tortured, slaughtered and exiled us.

"…the Zionist movement gave political expression to our claim to the land of Israel ,and in 1992 the league of nations recognized the justice of this claim .It understood the competing historic imperative of establishing a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel .The United Nations organization reaffirmed this recognition after the second world war .Regrettably the Arab Leaders, whose friendship we wanted most ,opposed a Jewish state in the region .With a few distinguished exceptions ,they claimed that the land of Israel is part of the Arab domain that stretches from the Atlantic to the Persian golf .In defiance of international will and legality ,the Arab regimes attempted to return to overrun and destroy the Jewish state even before it was born .The Arab spokesman at the UN declared that the establishment of a Jewish state would cause a blood bath which would make the slaughters of Ghengies khan pale into insignificance.

".... Arab hostility to Israel has also brought tragic human suffering to the Arab people. Tens of thousands have been killed and wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs who lived in mandatory Palestine were encouraged by their own leaders to flee from their homes. Their suffering is a blot on humanity. No decent person, least of all a Jew of this era, can be oblivious to this suffering. Several hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs live in slums known as refugee camps in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. Attempts by Israel to rehabilitate and house them have been defeated by Arab objections. Nor has their fate been any better in Arab states, unlike the Jewish refugees who came to Israel from Arab countries, most Arab refugees were neither welcomed nor integrated by their hosts. Only the kingdom of Jordan awarded them citizenship. Their plight has been used as a political weapon against Israel. The Arabs who have chosen to remain in Israel, Christian and Muslim, have become full-fledged citizens enjoying equal right and representation in the legislature, in the judiciary and in all walks of life...

"I stand before you today in yet another quest for peace, not only on behalf of the state of Israel, but in the name of the entire Jewish people, that has maintained an unbreakable bond with the land of Israel for almost 4,000 years. Our pursuit of accommodation and peace has been relentless. For us, the in gathering of Jews into their ancient homeland, their integration in our society and the criterion of the essay infrastructure are at the very top of our national agenda. A nation that faces such a gigantic challenge most naturally desires peace with all its neighbors.. Today's gathering is a result of a sustained American effort, based on our own peace plan of May 1989 which, in turn, was founded on the Camp David accords. According to the American initiative, the purpose of this meeting is to launch direct peace negotiations between Israel and each of its neighbors, and multilateral negotiations on regional issues among all the countries of the region. We have always believed that only direct, bilateral talks can bring peace. We have agreed to precede such talks with this ceremonial conference, but we hope that Arab consent to direct, bilateral talks indicated an understanding that there is no other way to peace. In the Middle East, this has special meaning, because such talks imply mutual acceptance and the root cause of the conflict is the Arab refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel.

"The multilateral talks that would accompany the bilateral negotiations are a vital component in the process. In these talks, the essential ingredients of coexistence and regional cooperation will be discussed. There cannot be genuine peace in our region unless these issues are addressed and resolved. We believe the goal of the bilateral negotiations is to sign peace treaties between Israel and its neighbors, and to reach an agreement on interim self-Government arrangements with the Palestinian Arabs. But nothing can be achieved without good will. I appeal to the Arab leaders, those who are here and those who have not yet joined the process Show us and the world that you accept Israel's existence. Demonstrate your readiness to accept Israel as a permanent entity in the region. Let the people in our region hear you speak in the language of reconciliation, coexistence and peace with Israel.

"In Israel there is an almost total consensus for the need for peace. We only differ on the best ways to achieve it. In most Arab countries the opposite seems to be true: The only differences are over the ways to push Israel into a defenseless position and, ultimately, to destruction. WE would like to see in your countries and end to poisonous preachings against Israel. We would like to see an indication of the kind of hunger for peace which characterizes Israel. We appeal to you to denounce the PLO covenant which calls for Israel's destruction. WE appeal to you to condemn declarations that call for Israel's annihilation, like the one issued by the rejectionist conference in Tehran last week. WE appeal to you to let Jews who wish to leave your countries, go. And we address a call to the Palestinian Arabs: Renounce violence and terrorism. Use the universities in the administered territories -- whose existence was made possible only by Israel -- for learning and development, not agitation and violence. Stop exposing your children to danger by sending them to throw bombs and stones at soldiers and civilians... We appeal to you to shun dictators like Saddam Husayn who aim to destroy Israel. Stop the brutal torture and murder of those who do not agree with you...

"We know our partners to the negotiations will make territorial demands on Israel. But, as an examination of the conflict's long history makes clear, its nature is not territorial. It raged well before Israel acquired Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan in a defensive war. There was no hint of recognition of Israel before the war in 1967, when the territories in question were not under Israeli control.

"We are a nation of four million. The Arab nations from the Atlantic to the Gulf number 170 million. We control only 28,000 square km. The Arabs possess a land mass of 14 million square km. The issue is not territory but our existence.

"It will be regrettable if the talks focus primarily and exclusively on territory .It is the quickest ways to an impasse. What we need, first and foremost, is the building of confidence, the removal of the danger of confrontation and the development of relations in as many spheres as possible.

"The issues are complex, and the negotiations will be lengthy and difficult. We submit that the best venue for the talks is in our region, in close proximity to the decision-makers, not in a foreign lands. We invite our partners to this process to come to Israel for the first round of talks. On our part, we are ready to go to Jordan, to Lebanon and to Syria for the same purpose. There is no better way to make peace than to talk in each other's home. Avoiding such talks is a denial of the purpose of the negotiations.

Jordanian Foreign Minister, Kamil Abu Jabir: "... It is not impossible to hope that this conference will herald the dawn of a new era to rectify the mistakes of the past... And if this conference does anything it must end Israel's self-righteous attitude to live by its rules alone. Third conference is also about the credibility of international law, the United Nations charter and human rights.

"Jordan comes to this conference in good faith. Our vision is not merely an end to hostility -- another truce -- but a comprehensive, just and permanent peace. Our region has known nothing but instability and violence since the turn of the century. It is about time that it enjoys peace...

"Today we have an historic opportunity for peace in a land that has not tasted it for a long time. We must remember that the extremists and there rejectionists who speak in absolute terms are still lurking in the wings. It is from there that they issue their often repeated cliches and venomous threats.

"It should not be a peace at any price but an honorable peace with which we and future generations can live.. A durable peace which is the product of negotiations. It must be the outcome of mutual understanding and accommodation between he parties to the conference without sacrificing rights or deviating from the principles of international law.

"Although the world and the Israelis themselves, know and are aware of our innocence of the crimes against the Jewish people, Israel's indignant outrage has not induced of balanced justice. It has become our fate in Jordan to live with, as well as to suffer, and to contain the powerful forces of extremism. The Nazis and others unleashed the passions of injured Zionism for which the Palestinians and Jordan have paid the price.

"God only knows the price we continue to pay for the sins of others. It had come to pass that our land, our culture, our people, even our very souls, as well as everything we hold dear and sacred, continue to be plundered and distorted to accommodate new realities and manufactured facts, brutally created in the ground.

"We think that the formula of land for peace rings more meaningfully true than any other principle of slogan. The echo of the drums of war reverberates in the heart and soul of the region. Is it not time that we, now on the threshold of the 21st century, bring peace to our peoples?..."

Haydar Abd al-Shafi (Head of Palestinian Delegation): "... We, the people of Palestine, stand before you in the fullness of our pain, our pride, and our anticipation for we have long harbored a yearning for peace and a dream of justice and freedom. For too long the Palestinian people have gone unheeded, silenced and denied-- our identity negated by political expediency, our rightful struggle against injustice maligned, and our present existence subsumed by the past tragedy of another people... For the greater part of this century, we have been victimized by the myth of a land without a people and described with impunity as 'the invisible Palestinians.' Before such willful blindness, we refused to disappear or to accept a distorted identity. Our Intifada is a testimony to our perseverance and resilience, waged in a just struggle to regain our rights. It is time for us to narrate our own story, to stand witness as advocates of a truth which has long lain buried in the consciousness and conscience of the world. We do not stand before you as supplicants, but rather as the torch bearers who know that in our world of today, ignorance can never be an excuse. We seek neither an admission of guilt after the fact, nor vengeance for past iniquities, but rather an act of will that would make a just peace a reality...

".... Regardless of the nature and conditions of our oppression, whether the dispossession and dispersion of exile or the brutality and repression of the occupation, the Palestinian people cannot be torn asunder, they remain united, a nation wherever they are, or are forced to be. And Jerusalem, ladies and gentlemen, that city which is not only the soul of Palestine but the cradle of three world religions, is tangible even in its claimed absence from our midst at this stage. Its apparent, though artificial, exclusion from this conference is a denial of its right to seek peace and redemption, for it too had suffered from war and occu0pation. Jerusalem, the city of peace, has been barred from a peace conference and deprived of its calling. Palestinian Jerusalem, the capital of our homeland and future state, defines Palestinian existence -- past, present and future -- but itself has been denied a voice and an identity...

".... We, the Palestinian people, made the imaginative leap in the Palestinian National Council of November 1988, during which the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) launched its peace initiative based on Security Council Resolutions 181 of the United Nations, which gave birth to two states in 1948: Israel and Palestine. In December 1988, a historic speech before the United Nations in Geneva led directly to the launching of the Palestinian-American dialogue. Ever then, our people has responded positively to every serious peace initiative and has done its utmost to ensure the success of this process. Israel, on the other hand, has done it utmost to ensure the success of this Process. Israel, on the other hand, has place many obstacles and barriers in the path of peace to negate the validity of the process. Its illegal and frenzied settlement activity is the most glaring evidence of its rejectionism, the latest settlement being erected just two days ago. These historic decisions of the Palestine National Council wrenched the course of history from inevitable confrontation and conflict towards peace and mutual recognition."

Syrian Foreign Minister, Faruq al-Shara`: "... This conference cannot be considered a ceremonial event, as one of the participating parties had wanted.

"... The role of the United Nations, regardless of the status allowed to it in this conference, remains important: as long as the objective of the peace process is to reach a comprehensive, just and peaceful settlement within this framework of international legitimacy and on the basis of UN resolutions and as long as the results reached by the parties are to be sanctioned by the Security Council.

"... It is no exaggeration to state that the continuing intransigent Israeli position, which is bereft of any justification, is the one that places the world on the brink of incalculable dangers and prevents the region from enjoying peace. The Arabs, throughout their long history, have always advocated peace, justice and tolerance... The Jews, and Oriental Jews in particular, know better than anyone that they have lived among Muslim Arabs throughout history wherever they co-existed without ever suffering any from of persecution or discrimination; either racial or religious...

"... Had Israel's policy not been settler-colonialist, Palestinians languishing under Israeli occupation since 1967 would not have been denied all their self-determination. It is that very right that the Palestinians -- children, women and the elderly -- have steadfastly expressed through their peaceful Intifada during the past four years... the continuing denial of the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people will lead this people to believe that resorting to violence alone is the most viable way of achieving that right.

... Peace and the usurpation of the land of others cannot co-exist, for peace to be stable and durable. It must encompass all parties to the conflict in all fronts. Developments in our region have proved this fact. Israel exploited the signing of its peace with Egypt in 1979 to then proceed to annexing Jerusalem in 1980, the Golan in 1981 and invading Lebanon in 1982..

"... Now, as the cold war has come to an end, as the spirit of confrontation and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union has given way to a new stage of reconciliation and cooperation, and as the peace conference has convened, the peoples of our region and of the world at large await the implementation of these resolutions at the earliest date through serious and productive talks.

"... Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, on the basis of which the peace conference is being convened, were adopted as a compromise among the permanent member states of the Security Council. As it is well known, the majority of these states have been sympathetic to Israel since its creation. Hence the implementation of these two resolutions should not be the subject of new bargaining during bilateral negotiations. Rather, they should be implemented in all their provisions and on all fronts.

"... This means that every inch of Arab land occupied by the Israelis by way of force -- The Golan, the West Bank Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip - must be returned in their entirety to their legitimate owners. International public opinions aware more than ever before - and especially following the Gulf crisis - that double standards are no longer acceptable in this age, must be respected, and that United Nation resolutions, not brute force, must be applied...

"... Concern for the success of the peace process requires that multilateral talks which do not fall within the framework of resolutions 242 and 338 be initiated until substantive and concrete achievement has been made in bilateral negotiations which would confirm the elimination of the major obstacles on the road to peace. That is because Israel -- as everyone knows -- is not interested in implementing resolutions 242 and 338 on the basis of the principle of land for peace, Israel is only interested in entering into negotiations on economic cooperation with the states of the region while perpetuating its occupation of Arab territories. This is in contradiction with the objective on which the convening of this conference was based..."

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Faris Buwayz: "Lebanon calls upon Israel to cease military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and to withdraw immediately its forces from all Lebanese land." Buwayz also demanded that the international community implement United Nations Security Council resolution 425 which calls for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon: "the Lebanese Government wishes this conference total success, yet it would like to assure it that it will spare no effort to have resolution 425 implemented whatever path the conference will follow."

Buwayz spent a good part of his speech dwelling on Lebanon's suffering during 16 years of civil war, but said the Lebanese experience proved that people eventually had to learn to live together because they had no other choice.

Buwayz said that in agreeing to attend the Madrid conference, Lebanon had told the United States and the Soviet Union that it would continue to seek an Israeli withdrawal which did not depend on an overall settlement of the Middle East conflict. Buwayz said that on the very day of his speech, 160 Israelis shells had been fired at the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyyeh causing casualties.