In the late fall of 1991, Israel was pushed to participate in a peace conference in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the then Soviet Union. It was an attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through negotiations. In addition to Israel, the Palestinians were represented there as were a number of Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.

The Israeli delegation to the conference was led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and included, as well: Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; historian Shlomo Ben-Ami; Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yossi Ben-Aharon; Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Zalman Shoval; head of the delegation’s working group on Syria, Itamar Rabinovitch; head of the delegation’s working group on Palestinian negotiations, Elyakim Rubinstein; and MK Uzi Landau along with some lower level staff people.

There is a story told, perhaps an urban legend of sorts or of an event that actually happened, about a meeting called by Yitzhak Shamir the evening before the conference opened on October 30th. Shamir was purported to have said to the group, in Yiddish, his native tongue, קינדערלך, דאָס איז דער אָנהייב פֿונעם........

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