Israel mourns Rabin

JERUSALEM – Israel yesterday marked 12 years since prime minister and Nobel laureate Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an extremist Jewish gunman, with a series of nationwide memorial services.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres attended an official ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl Cemetery at 13h00 GMT along with senior military officials and other dignitaries. Olmert then addressed the Knesset during a special anniversary meeting in honour of the former premier, widely revered as a national hero both for his storied military career and his peace efforts in the 1990s.On Tuesday dignitaries and members of the Rabin family attended a candle-lighting ceremony at the residence of Peres, who as foreign minister was also at the fateful Tel Aviv rally in 1995 when Rabin was killed by Yigal Amir.”I stood by Yitzhak’s side; his face was glowing at this demonstration of touching, beautifully spontaneous support,” Peres told the ceremony, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.”At the same time the vile, ruthless enemy was waiting, cold-hearted, down the stairs, holding a loaded gun in his hand.He shot Yitzhak’s back, and injured our nation’s heart.Neither our nation nor history could ever forgive this scoundrel.”Students and Israeli youth representatives afterwards lit hundreds of beacons at major junctions across the country.Meanwhile, Rabin’s daughter Dalia said she regretted that her father’s assassin had not been executed, “not because it’s about my father but because the killer shot democracy in the back,” she told Israeli public television.The anniversary comes as a group of extreme right-wingers campaign for clemency for Amir, who has spent 12 years behind bars in solitary confinement.The so-called Committee for Democracy plans to hand out 150 000 copies of a video of Amir’s family calling for his release ‘in the name of human rights’ and ‘national reconciliation’ – to the horror of the Israeli authorities.”I intend to work to ensure that he ends his days in prison.This man has the closest status possible to a man condemned to death,” Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told army radio.Dalia Rabin expressed anger at the campaign.”If Israel wants to commit suicide, it should let this campaign develop,” she said.On November 4, 1995, Amir fired three bullets into Rabin’s back at the end of a Tel Aviv rally in a bid to torpedo the Oslo autonomy accords with the Palestinians that had earned the Israeli premier a Nobel peace prize.The general-turned-peacemaker inspired both admiration and hatred for signing the 1993 accords, and in 1994 shared the peace prize with Peres and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.Peres said on Tuesday that the best way to commemorate Rabin was to ‘realise we are back on track to peace,’ in reference to talks between Israel and Palestinians ahead of a conference in the United States later this year.Nampa-AFPOlmert then addressed the Knesset during a special anniversary meeting in honour of the former premier, widely revered as a national hero both for his storied military career and his peace efforts in the 1990s.On Tuesday dignitaries and members of the Rabin family attended a candle-lighting ceremony at the residence of Peres, who as foreign minister was also at the fateful Tel Aviv rally in 1995 when Rabin was killed by Yigal Amir.”I stood by Yitzhak’s side; his face was glowing at this demonstration of touching, beautifully spontaneous support,” Peres told the ceremony, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.”At the same time the vile, ruthless enemy was waiting, cold-hearted, down the stairs, holding a loaded gun in his hand.He shot Yitzhak’s back, and injured our nation’s heart.Neither our nation nor history could ever forgive this scoundrel.”Students and Israeli youth representatives afterwards lit hundreds of beacons at major junctions across the country.Meanwhile, Rabin’s daughter Dalia said she regretted that her father’s assassin had not been executed, “not because it’s about my father but because the killer shot democracy in the back,” she told Israeli public television.The anniversary comes as a group of extreme right-wingers campaign for clemency for Amir, who has spent 12 years behind bars in solitary confinement.The so-called Committee for Democracy plans to hand out 150 000 copies of a video of Amir’s family calling for his release ‘in the name of human rights’ and ‘national reconciliation’ – to the horror of the Israeli authorities.”I intend to work to ensure that he ends his days in prison.This man has the closest status possible to a man condemned to death,” Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told army radio.Dalia Rabin expressed anger at the campaign.”If Israel wants to commit suicide, it should let this campaign develop,” she said.On November 4, 1995, Amir fired three bullets into Rabin’s back at the end of a Tel Aviv rally in a bid to torpedo the Oslo autonomy accords with the Palestinians that had earned the Israeli premier a Nobel peace prize.The general-turned-peacemaker inspired both admiration and hatred for signing the 1993 accords, and in 1994 shared the peace prize with Peres and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.Peres said on Tuesday that the best way to commemorate Rabin was to ‘realise we are back on track to peace,’ in reference to talks between Israel and Palestinians ahead of a conference in the United States later this year.Nampa-AFP