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Statement on Receiving the 2004
Wolf Prize
The Statement of Daniel Barenboim
on May 9th 2004 at the Knesset
On the Occasion of Receiving the Wolf Prize.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Wolf Foundation
for the great honour that is being bestowed upon me today. This recognition
is for me not only an honour,but also a source of inspiration for
additional creative activity.
It was in 1952, four years after the Declaration of Israel's Independence,
that I, as a 10-year old boy, came to Israel with my parents from
Argentina.
The Declaration of Independence was a source of inspiration to believe
in ideals that transformed us from Jews to Israelis. This remarkable
document expressed the commitment (I quote) : "The state of Israel
will devote itself to the development of this country for the benefit
of all its people; It will be founded on the principles of freedom,
justice and peace, guided by the visions of the prophets of Israel;
It will grant full equal, social and political rights to all its citizens
regardless of differences of religious faith, race or sex; It will
ensure freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture."(end
of quote)
The founding fathers of the State of Israel who signed the Declaration
also committed themselves and us (and I quote):"To pursue peace and
good relations with all neighboring states and people".(end of quote).
I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite all our achievements,
ignore the intolerable gap between what the Declaration of Independence
promised and what was fulfilled, the gap between the idea and the
realities of Israel?
Does the condition of occupation and domination over another people
fit the Declaration of Independence? Is there any sense in the independence
of one at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other?
Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of continued suffering
and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to
the rights and suffering of a neighboring people?
Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic dream of an ideological
end to the conflict instead of pursuing a pragmatic, humanitarian
one based on social justice?
I believe that, despite all the objective and subjective difficulties,
the future of Israel and its position in the family of enlightened
nations will depend on our ability to realize the promise of the founding
fathers as they canonized it in the Declaration of Independence.
I have always believed that there is no military solution to the Jewish
Arab conflict, neither from a moral nor a strategic one and since
a solution is therefore inevitable I ask myself : Why wait? It is
for this very reason that I founded with my late friend Edward Said
a workshop for young musicians from all the countries of the Middle
East - Jews and Arabs.
Despite the fact that, as an art, music cannot compromise its principles,
and politics, on the other hand, is the art of compromise, when politics
transcends the limits of the present existence and ascents to the
higher sphere of the possible, it can be joined there by music. Music
is the art of the imaginary par excellence, an art free of all limits
imposed by words, an art that touches the depth of human existence,
and art of sounds that crosses all borders. As such music can take
the feelings and imagination of Israelis and Palestinians to new unimaginable
spheres.
I have therefore decided to donate the monies of the prize to music
education projects in Israel and in Ramallah.
Thank you.
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