Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
ABBA EBANNobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist.’ Israel’s right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved.
More Abba Eban Quotes
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It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
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Israel is not an aviary.
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A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.
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Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
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Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.
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I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender.
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Better to be disliked than pitied.
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If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
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Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
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You can’t achieve anything without getting in someone’s way. You can’t be detached and effective.
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Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives
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Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
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A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
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Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man’s initiative.
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History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
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