Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addresses the Knesset plenum during the festive sitting, 2005

Deputy Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein:

Honorable President, former President Yitzhak Navon, former Speakers of the Knesset, Mr. Shlomo Hillel, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Tichon, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, ministers, Members of the Knesset and their spouses, former Members of the Knesset, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak, State Comptroller, dignitaries, heads of the diplomatic corps, leaders of the ethnic groups in Israel, soldiers, members of youth movements, new immigrants, dear citizens.

Allow me to first welcome, as we sometimes tend to forget to do so, and greet former members of the Knesset, who are welcomed guests not only on holidays and celebrations, but all year around.

On the 15th of Shvat, the New Year of the Trees, 56 years ago, the first Constituent Assembly opened in the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, which was a divided and bisected city at the time. The opening of the first house of representatives in the State of Israel was the realization of an ancient dream. Two days later it was renamed “The Knesset,” and its delegates became Members of the Knesset. The new Knesset members stopped on their way to Jerusalem at Sha’ar HaGai. The skeletons of smoking cars were spread along the road, as a stinging memory to the war that had yet to reach its end.

The Members of the Knesset planted trees in the rocky ground. As did those first ones, so did we this morning when we planted trees in Sderot and Nir Am. We have held this morning a fascinating get-together with the brave inhabitants of the city. We have listened to their wishes, and I promise them on behalf of the many Knesset members who were present, that their words will echo throughout the Knesset, and we will serve as their faithful messengers. This land is one and it unites us all.

Members of the Knesset, the First Knesset did not have any days of grace. While the fire at the front lines continued, the Knesset was debating fateful controversial matters. The Knesset had to approve the Armistice Agreements that shaped the state’s borders for many years. The Knesset ratified the Law of Return, and it had to deal with ways to absorb the mass waves of immigrants that this country was not accustomed to. The Knesset was imposed with the shaping of the design and content of the newly born Israeli democracy.

56 winters have passed since. The divided capital Jerusalem is now a unified city. The fragile State of Israel of 1949 is today a strong state. Our democratic rule, that has no competitors with its war experiences, is solid. However, the long and bitter war on our existence in our country is not yet over. Let the enemies who want to take our lives know: Our hands reach for peace, but if you are headed towards war – we are firm and ready to protect our home and our territory.

We do not have wide national consensus on matters of our fate. The political decisions that are approved by the Knesset are essential and carve our image for future generations. The people are divided by ideological issues, and the Knesset is a faithful mirror that reflects the fractures found among our people.

Members of the Knesset, the Knesset derived its power from the people, and we must be careful to prevent a fall of our legislative branch. Even when issues are charged, and even when matters are dividing the people and tearing the heart, we must guard the status of the parliament. We are talking about the soul of democracy and its ability to continue and exist.

We have chosen to dedicate this festive day, the Knesset’s day of establishment, to discuss the question of whether or not it is time for a constitution. Before we debate the issue of a constitution in Israel, allow me to make a personal remark. It is not enough to have a wide consensus on the contents of a constitution that expresses our path as a Jewish and democratic state. To me, the question at hand is how we implement the written constitution in our daily lives. As a man who made aliyah from a country with an illustrious constitution, though it was one of the darkest regimes in the history of mankind; as someone who witnessed how those who demand the enforcement of a constitution are imprisoned for many years, I believe that the true test of a constitution is sound and clear: How we, as a Knesset, and the Israeli society as a whole, implement the constitution, if and when it will come to be, and live by its principles.