Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., May 13, 2008 Iyyar 8, 5768 | | Israel Time: 22:00 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

President Shimon Peres. (David Bachar) Last update - 19:35 13/05/2008 Peres at presidents conference: Iran belongs in the past By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Diaspora, Israel  President Shimon Peres opened his "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference Tuesday by telling participants and guests that Iran belongs in the past while Israel represents the future. He also emphasized the importance of discovery and science, for which Israel claims a significant role in its sixty years of existence. "Iran belongs in the past. This [conference] is the answer to Iran, it is the future that exists," Peres said in his address, which he delivered at Jerusalem's International Convention Center. Advertisement The president also asserted that scientific discovery was more important than the discovery of America, because the new world had borders while science is infinite. "At this conference we will try to address the future, a new world of terms," Peres added. The president began his address by stating that, "over the last 25 years, since the time when an active computer was housed in a very large room and until the arrival of the cellular telephone, the power of computing has increased a billion fold." "Here we discovered an amazing field of capability," Peres declared in the opening speech. Peres also called on the "industrialists, the scientists, the visionaries, and especially the young generation not to fear, not to heed the experts who know everything except what is actually going on. This is a small country, whose inhabitants do not have to be small." The president called today's scientists "Colombuses" discovering millions of new worlds that mankind has not yet begun to explore. "A country mustn't be measured by kilometers or population, but by its capacity to create new lands that are not geographical," the president said. He added that "Israel has chutzpah. What is our battle cry? Chutzpah. To question the norm, to rebel against conventions, not to be satisfied with what we're given. Creative, enriching chutzpah is extremely important." "Some say I'm optimistic," the president went on to say. "I really am optimistic because I think that a country's worth is measured by the number of Colombuses it has and the number of opportunities it offers. Not everything is global, this is individual. One person can discover entire worlds. If there is something that we can't expand it is our geography, which may even shrink if another state is established." Olmert postpones speech on Diaspora relations due to Peres Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has canceled his plan to give a detailed speech on Israel-Diaspora relations at Tuesday's opening session of the "Facing Tomorrow" conference. Olmert is planning to give a more general address on this topic Tuesday, but the original speech, which was to have outlined detailed initiatives to improve Israel-Diaspora relations, has been postponed until next month. The delay is apparently unrelated to the new police investigation against Olmert; rather, it stems from the fact that Olmert does not want to make a substantial statement on a day that he will most likely be overshadowed by Peres. Details on the Facing Tomorrow Conference are available on Haaretz.com Bookmark to del.icio.us   Death of a heroine Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jews during the Holocaust, dies at 98. Apocalyptic tidings Holy See warns of nightmarish perils if Mideast nuclear arms race is not halted.   1.   THE ONLY THING THAT IS "OVERSHADOWING" 12:45  |  Robert 13/05/08   2.   Words, words, words 15:48  |  Ben Menachem 13/05/08   3.   Nobody is really interested in what OLMERT has to say 16:48  |  dumbell 13/05/08   4.   The list of world powers attending Peres` conference: 18:23  |  Martin 13/05/08   5.   A Nation based on ethnicity or religion also belongs in the past 19:01  |  American 13/05/08   6.   Poor Martin, #4 19:06  |  casual observer 13/05/08   7.   olmert 19:44  |  charlie 13/05/08   8.   Israel is doomed to fail 19:49  |  *BEN JABO 13/05/08   9.   Israel is doomed to fail 19:49  |  *BEN JABO 13/05/08   10.   Israel is a failed state 20:00  |  Todd Stevens 13/05/08   11.   # 10 Todd Stevens 20:49  |  Angus 13/05/08   12.   #10 Todd , what problem do you have ? 20:50  |  TOMY 13/05/08   13.   Iran is not only the civilization attacking liberal democracy, it 20:52  |  Albert 13/05/08   14.   The Small Boy needs to be found 21:08  |  Shimon Cleopas 13/05/08   15.   Living in the Past 21:22  |  DoubleClick 13/05/08   16.   Zionism the future? God help our children and grandchildren 21:24  |  Chanalau, Tova 13/05/08   17.   It`s the culture, stupid 21:26  |  Theodor 13/05/08   18.   Iran is doomed to fall in the dustbin of history 21:26  |  Leonidas of sparta 13/05/08

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