Tens of Thousands Remember Slain Rabin

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20031101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians

TEL AVIV, Israel - Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered Saturday night to mark the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, showing their continued support for the stalled peace process.

The peace rally took place in the Tel Aviv plaza where Rabin was fatally shot on Nov. 4, 1995, by an extremist Jew opposed to his peace efforts.

"For me, this is reassurance of the desire for peace, reassurance for people against violence, and reassurance of Rabin's way," said Zvi Friedman, one of the rally's organizers.

A large picture of Rabin hung behind the stage, with the words "Eight years since the murder." Many of the people in the crowd carried banners backing the peace process, saying, "There is no other way."

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[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. To this day, I feel Sharon had a hand in that assassination

I still mourn his death as do many many Jews.

[Flying_Pig]

2. You may be right NSMAM...

Yitzhak was Israel's Kennedy. The country's hopes for peace died in a pool of his blood. The same type of right-wing fanatics who have killed some of our best and brightest here, are alive and well in Israel. Kahane's monsters prowl the streets.

I wonder when Israel will again embrace a man of peace, rather than a man of hate and war (Sharon)? It cannot come any too soon, not for Israel, not for the Palestinians, and not for the world.

[Aidoneus]

8. think Netanyahu, not Sharon..

for that one (and of course, the ghost of Kahane). I'll have to look it up later if necessary, but I believe it was a short period before the assassination of Prime Minister "break their bones", Netanyahu denounced Rabin as a traitor to Jews/Zionism/Israel or somesuch like that. I doubt that creep had a direct hand in it, but he was probably on the side that wasn't too upset to see him go (his supporters most certainly so).

As for Sharon, ol' Arik probably had nothing at all to do with it, he's not so much the sort (atrocities committed in full view, more or less honestly presented, and right out in the open for all to see is more his preferred style--think of bulldozing Gaza, carpet-bombing Beirut, etc..).

[Paschall]

11. And lest we forget who the Likudniks are...

The PNAC pre-cursor strategy, called "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" was written by Richard Perle and Douglas Feth for Netanyahu in 1996. The paper included a plan to remove Saddam from power.

<snip> At the Pentagon, Wolfowitz and his boss Rumsfeld set up an intelligence group under Abram Schulsky and the Under-Secretary for Defence, Douglas Feith, both old friends of Wolfowitz. The group's public face is the semi-official Defence Policy Board, headed by Perle. Perle and Feith wrote a paper in 1996 called 'A Clean Break' for the then leader of Israel's Likud bloc, Binyamin Netanyahu; the clean break was from the Oslo peace process. Israel's 'claim to the land (including the West Bank) is legitimate and noble,' said the paper. 'Only the unconditional acceptance by Arabs of our rights is a solid basis for the future.' At the State Department, the 'Arabist' faction of regional experts favouring the diplomacy of alliances in the area was drowned out by the hawks, markedly by another new unit with favoured access to the White House. </snip>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,901117,00.html

There are copies of "Clean Break" available from several sources on-line. Here's just one:
http://www.saudia-online.com/zogbi/research1.shtml

I think Yitzhak Rabin might want us to remember this as we remember him.

[Minstrel Boy]

9. The case is very strange,

with some uncanny echoes of RFK's assassination.

Rabin had contact wounds - that is, he was shot point blank, but the convicted assassin was firing from five feet away.

At the shots, witnesses believed them to be blanks. Even policemen were shouting "they're not real!" Rabin's bodyguard shouted "They're blanks! They're blanks!" The government said he committed suicide that night, and a hospital immediately removed his organs.

Rabin did not wince in pain or stagger from the shots. He just turned back and looked at the shooter. He showed no sign of bleeding as he was hustled into his car.

"One day during his trial, (accused assassin) Amir screamed to the reporters, 'Why don't you print the story about the murdered bodyguard?' He was asked which one. 'The one who yelled the bullets are blanks.' In theory Amir was being kept in solitary confinement with no access to the news. How did he know the story? And Amir wasn't finished. He added, 'I know enough to bring down the whole regime. The whole business has been a charade. The entire system is rotten. I will be forgiven when people know the whole story.'"

Read much more about it here:

http://www.parascope.com/articles/0397/rabin_in.htm

[NNN0LHI]

3. Rest in peace, Yitzhak. You will be missed n/t

[FDRrocks]

4. RIP Rabin

The world might be a better place if....

[Aidoneus]

5. the father of "force, might, beatings"

people seem to remember him as a "man of peace".. how much of a man's history must be forgotten to arrive at such conclusions?

In response to the first post, NSMA, I would look more in the direction of Netanyahu as being the distant/indirect hand, not Sharon.

[AntiCoup2K4]

6. I believe that peace might have been possible if Rabin had lived

....and that's exactly why they had to kill him :grr:

Like JFK and RFK, this was an inside job by those who did not want a better future for the Middle East because it meant they would lose their insane "control" Call it Mossad, call it Likud, call it Sharon... Either way you would probably be right.

[silverchair]

7. we shall remember you, rabin

for your attempts at peace. ironic how is own people killed him.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Haaretz: 100,000 mark 8 years since Rabin murder

100,000 mark 8 years since Rabin murder
By Anat Cygielman

It was possibly the largest left-wing demonstration this country has seen for years. Over 100,000 people packed into Tel Aviv's Rabin Square last night to mark the eighth anniversary since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

It may have been a "memorial ceremony," and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy and Rabin's former driver, Yehezkel Sharabi, may have been featured speakers, who talked of Rabin's "way," but the banners held up were all political and very specific: Leave the territories – save the country, The Geneva Accord - New Hope, etc. The message was clear - this was the left's demonstration, and not just a memorial service.

This evening was touching and poignant. There were no angry shouts, no atmosphere of a fight. A polite, well-dressed, crowd listened quietly to the speeches and songs and clapped in all the right places but not too much. They cheered for Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, they cheered Shaike Levy when he mentioned Friday's desecration of the memorial. "The evil beast has once again raised his head," said Levy. "They have returned to here, to the memorial. A reminder for those who may have forgotten ...We will come back here, year after year, to say `yes' to peace, `no' to violence."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/356063.html

[dArKeR]

12. 100 000 call for peace at Rabin memorial rally

A rally in memory of Yitzhak Rabin eight years after his murder turned into the largest left-wing demonstration since Ariel Sharon came to power as more than 100 000 people at the weekend gathered under banners denouncing occupation and demanding peace.

Although the organisers had said that Saturday night's memorial was intended to be non-partisan, many of those who descended on the Tel Aviv square where the former prime minister was assassinated carried banners demanding: "Leave the territories -- save the country", and "Sharon go home".

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22983