I belong to the independence generation, called the 1948 generation (The year Israel achieved its independence). A generation whose parents fought to establish the state and who participated in the Sinai war. A generation which enlisted in the military under the command of the then Chief of Staff, the late General Itzhak Rabin, on the eve of the Six Day War. A generation whose childhood and youth were spent within the Green Line. A generation who fought in the Six Day War from a country, compact and threatened, but strong. A generation that over a short period of six days was transformed into a generation serving in a conquering army. After the bliss of victory came the digestion and comprehension of the far-reaching implications of the new situation. Over the thirty year period which has since passed, our generation has been called to arms for wars imposed on us by the incompetence of our statesmen. Wars which have demanded a heavy toll measured in blood.

The signing of the peace agreement with Egypt symbolized a new era - an era in which bold state leaders decided to switch army fields for negotiating tables. An era of peace which began in the Sinai desert. The path was clear as were the obstacles required to overcome in following it. But the dream of peace and the end of war evolved, taking on body and soul.

The stage it entered our consciousness that a solution to the Palestinian problem was critical and necessary for purposes of advancing the peace process constituted a most significant leap. A leap which, in history, will be credited to Itzhak Rabin. Itzhak Rabin, behind whom, and under whose command we went into battle three decades ago, and under whose heritage we choose today to advance in the way of peace. During the period in which we occupied the territories captured during the Six Day war, much blood has been spilled on both sides. Opposite the Palestinian struggle for self-recognition, our generation found itself in an unacceptable situation. The transformation of a defense army to an army of occupation, with all the implications. A disastrous process mainly with regard to the social implications, primarily to the value we place on human life. Into the complications of securing and maintaining life during the occupation there entered other factors which rendered the situation more complex. Especially the behavior and actions of extremist groups from both sides. Since the assassination of Rabin, other factors have been added, such as the incompetence of the top statesmen who have lacked direction and vision, and whose own struggle for survival, and for the survival of their leader returns us to the pre-war days, endangering both the accomplishments of peace achieved to date, and the future of peace, on which rely our own well-being as well as the well being of our children.

And our generation, a generation which after 50 years saw the light at the end of the tunnel. A generation that saw within its range a handshake of peace with those who would recognize our right to exist as a sovereign state after years of war. A generation that desires for its children military duty without war, now finds itself sending its children to the military and sacrificing victims for values which lead to additional wars. And all this is happening as we stand and watch the clear disaster of bad sands sweep over us, sand which throughout history has drifted among conquering nations and have brought about their demise. Dangerous values that endanger the already fragile delicate social fabric of the nation's population.