Speech at Henry Ronson Comprehensive School

Mr. Mayor, Shimon PeresPrime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen:

First, I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, and through you all the people of Ashkelon, for this fantastic welcome (applause). It is something we shall always remember and always treasure.

I am so pleased to be able to come to see the city itself and also the special contribution made to it by our marvellous Jewish community in Britain (applause).

I know that many of Ashkelon's residents are people who have come here from a wide variety of countries, and yet somehow you have been able to harness the talents and the energies of all of them to create this thriving and sparkling community, where pride in your city is so obvious and so justified.

Your achievement is all the more remarkable just because it involves bringing together people with such different back-grounds, but in a common effort, and that pioneering and resolute spirit is something which all of us associate with Israel, and I am so pleased to be able to see it still being applied in practice this year.

As I remember, Ashkelon does not get a very good press in the Old Testament (applause). Indeed, it says in the Old [end p1] Testament, we are enjoined to publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon! Well today, we have got good news and we are publishing it in the streets of Ashkelon! (applause)

Can I just say thank you to the Jewish community in Britain for their contribution to Ashkelon's success. Their first mission came here in 1979 and shortly afterwards set up a steering committee to help develop Ashkelon as part of something called in Civil Service-ese, “Project Renewal” . It is much more exciting than that, but that is what it is called, and it is terrific when you see it in practice.

Since 1979, they have provided volunteers with special skills and funds through the Joint Israel Appeal, and after seven years of work the evidence of their success is all around, both in the physical renewal and the development of community activities of every sort, and I would like to say how much I agree with Mr. Chin (phon.), it is no good just building buildings; you have got to involve the people with them as well, because that is how you build a great city (applause).

I know of the practical dental clinics manned by volunteers from Britain, the forty new kindergartens, the community work programme, the English teaching resource centre and the community centre run by residents. This great renewal project has brought together amateurs and professionals, full-time workers and volunteers, all of them dedicated to helping others to help themselves, and I want you to know how inspiring and heartening it is to come here and to have this chance to say “Congratulations” to all of those who have given their time and effort to help you build your town and your sense [end p2] of community. You will not only be building Ashkelon; you will be bringing hope to many other towns that they too can do it with similar schemes, and I am very thrilled to be able to help in laying the foundation stone of this new school, the Henry Ronson …   . School. Mr. Ronson is a wonderful man and I am delighted to see his generosity here (applause).

But not only is he building a school, and that in a way is enough, but when you build a school you are building the future of a whole community and therefore your works will live on for many many generations to come. Indeed, you are setting up the traditions which future generations of children in Ashkelon will say: “We have to do these very good things because of the person who founded our school” .

I remember when I visited Israel as Secretary of State for Education, way back in 1971, I learned how much a country such as Israel, which has few natural resources, depends upon the learning and the skills and the resolve of its people. I understand that this school will make it possible to change the educational programme in Ashkelon from a four-year high school to a six-year high school—an important step forward. So its name will keep alive the link with the Jewish community in Britain and one of its most dynamic and distinguished families, and I know that this school will play a vital part in maintaining the success story of Ashkelon and of its people and of Israel itself.

If I were launching a ship, I know what I would say—May God bless this ship and all who sail in her—but it is not a ship, but it is a school and a city. So may I say: May God [end p3] bless this school and this city and all who study in the school and all who live in this great city (applause)