"
We
have concluded that this year, naturally, the most dramatic and
important event has been the agreement between the Palestinians and
Israel, and our Committee has therefore awarded the 1993 Félix
Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and to
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on the Israeli side, and to Chairman
Yasser Arafat for the Palestine Liberation Organization, and we shall
invite to the Award Ceremony, as a special honoured guest, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Johan Jörgen Holst, as an appreciation of
the services he rendered in the cause of peace (..). "
Extract
from the statement made by Dr Henry A. Kissinger,
Chairman of the Jury, annoucing the Prizewinners on 17
September 1993.
The
official ceremony for the award of the Prize was held
on 6 July 1994
at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris
Addresses
Tribute
to President Félix Houphouët-Boigny
FEDERICO
MAYOR
Director-General of UNESCO
GUESTS
ON THE PODIUM
HENRY
A. KISSINGER
President of the Jury
YITZHAK
RABIN
Prime Minister of the State of Israel
"The
enemies of peace are even more numerous than we imagined. Because
extremists on both sides are lying in wait for us and we -Israelis and
Palestinians alike -must not fail."
SHIMON
PERES
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel
"
I feel that now is the time for peace, for a rendez-vous between Jewish
rebirth and Arab renaissance, between the realities of a Jewish State
and the requirements of the Palestianian people."
YASSER
ARAFAT
President of the Palestinian National Authority
"Peace
in our region (...) is not only in the interest of the
Palestinians, Arabs and Israelis but it is also in the interest of
all the States and peoples of the world."
Personalities
