In honor of the networks and journalists which came from overseas and the world,  the stations and networks and magazines and newspapers from across the world:  The Israeli cabinet decided tonight to approve the request made by the Egyptian government represented by President Hosni Mubarak,  to hold the fire by the State of Israel as part of the bilateral understanding between Israel and Egypt that will act together in order to prevent the continued smuggling of arms across the border into the Gaza area.  This is a major step forward and I want to take this opportunity to first thank President Mubarak for his leadership and hisunderstanding of the situation and also to thank the President of the United States, George W. Bush, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, for their endless efforts throughout the last three weeks in order to protect the right of Israel for self-defense against terrorist activities and at the same time to help create the necessary international environment that will bring an end to hostilities while guaranteeing the right of Israel to defend itself against any aggression perpetrated by terrorist organizations from whichever direction.

At the end of the term of President Bush and his administration, this is a very good opportunity for the people of Israel, for the State of Israel, and for the Government of Israel and myself, to thank President Bush for his friendship and support, for his steadfast support, for the State of Israel in crucial moments which were essential for the security and well-being for the people of Israel.  I also want to thank Secretary Condoleezza Rice for her friendship and support in those crucial moments and continued interest in the important issues which Israel were confronted with.  I also want to thank the leaders of Europe, President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Brown, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Berlusconi,  and many other prime ministers including of course the Czech Prime Minister who is now the President of the European Union, and many others, who spoke with us, showed interest, understood the motivation of the State of Israel and supported the right of Israel for self-defense while showing a genuine interest in the humanitarian conditions that were created in Gaza throughout that period. 

I also want to thank the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who visited with us and understood the constraints with which we had to deal and at the same time supported the efforts that were made in order to bring and end to the hostilities so that the people of Gaza will be able to deal with the necessary humanitarian conditions that were created as part of these efforts.

I want to make a special appeal to the people of Gaza.  Time and again, I talk to you and I appeal to you and I try to explain to you that Israel is not your enemy.  Hamas is your real enemy.  Hamas is our enemy.  Hamas is your enemy and so are the other terrorist organizations.  We genuinely never wanted to cause any discomfort, to attack any uninvolved civilian in Gaza.  We regret very much the fact that there were so many, who in spite of the genuine efforts made by the Israeli army, suffered from this confrontation and I want to apologize on behalf of  the Government of Israel for everyone who was unjustly affected in Gaza by this operation.  I believe that there will be an international effort to help recuperate Gaza and the Government of Israel will make every possible effort in order to help the humanitarian organization together with us in order to improve the situation and to remove the suffering from the daily routine of the Palestinians who are captive of terrorist organizations that were using them in order to try and achieve their conditions. 

The ultimate goal of this government, and I share it entirely with my friend and colleague, the Defense Minister of Israel as well as with the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Livni, is to achieve peace with the Arab countries; first and foremost, with the Palestinians, and hopefully in the future with others.  This is our desire; this was the focus of the efforts that this government made for a lot of time.  We hope that we will continue to negotiate with the Palestinian authority in order to bring peace to this area and it will start with the peace on the basis of the vision of President Bush of a two-state solution: a homeland for the Palestinian people in a Palestinian State and a homeland of the Jewish people in the State of Israel.  This is the goal, this is the spirit, this is the idea, this is what we want to achieve and I hope that tonight we are making a first important step in trying to change the security situation in the south part of the State of Israel in order to advance the chances that ultimately will bring peace to our area.

At this time, I sympathize with the families of the Israeli soldiers that were lost in this battle as well as the civilians in many cities in Israel which were hit by the terrorists.  I want to thank the Israeli army and the security services for their courage, their sensitivity and their determination in fighting for the right cause of the State of Israel for it's right of self-defense and I want to thank my two major colleagues:  the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak for his courage, his knowledge and his understanding of the military and political picture as well as to the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Tzipi Livni, whose endless efforts were so helpful in order to organize the international community in order to understand the needs and the problems in which we had to cope.  Thank you all very much.