And I want most especially to thank two people at the close.

I want to thank King Hussein, who visited us twice. And, Your Majesty, you gave us an unforgettable and inspiring example of courage and humanity, and it moved me deeply. It moved every one of our people and our delegates deeply, and I thank you for that.

And lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Sara, who joined me, who offered me support and a great deal of wisdom in some trying moments, and who constantly reminded me of our two children, of all the children for whom we toil and dream and pray. Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT CLLNTON: Let me say, I wish that all of you who care about this could have seen at least a portion of what I saw in the last nine days in the interchanges between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat. It was very interesting.

They were so different. I can't imagine Mr. Netanyahu in a " kaffiyeh. " ( Laughter, applause, cross talk. ) But they were very much alike in their tenacity and their astonishing intelligence and knowledge.

Just as I was able to say a thank you to Prime Minister Netanyahu, let me say to Chairman Arafat, I thank you. I thank you for turning away from violence toward peace. I thank you for embracing the idea that Palestinians and Israelis can actually share the land of our fathers together. I thank you for believing that the home of Islam and Judaism and Christianity can surely be the home of people who love one God and respect every life God has created. And I thank you for decades and decades of tireless representation of the longing of the Palestinian people to be free, self - sufficient, and at home.

Mr. Chairman, the microphone is yours.

( Chairman Arafat's remarks are through an interpreter. )

CHAIRMAN ARAFAT: Mr. William Clinton, the president; Mr. Al Gore, Mrs. Madeleine AIbright; and members of the U.S. delegation; friends; my co - partner -- my new co - partner in the peace process, Mr. Netanyahu; and here I mention my late co- partner Yitzhak Rabin and my co - partner Shimon Peres.

Members of the Israeli delegation with whom we worked together until we reached whatever we achieved, my brothers, members of the Palestinian delegation, ladies and gentlemen, here, in this regard, I would like to give special tribute from my heart to His Majesty, King Hussein, and Her Majesty the Queen, for everything they presented us.

This is an important and a happy day, a day of achievement that we will always remember with optimism and hope. It is true that whatever we achieved is only temporary, that has been late. But our agreement in the Wye River underscores that the peace process is going ahead and that whatever we agreed upon in Madrid, Oslo, and in Washington and Cairo is being implemented on the same bases that have been agreed to and that we will never go back. We will never leave the peace process, and we will never go back to violence and confrontation -- no return to confrontation and violence.  

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