Today was the third year anniversary of Rabin's assasination. Unlike the
other two years where I marked this day at school with ceremony and song,
this year I thought a lot about Rabin and what he did for our country.
Rabin was born March 3, 1922 to Roza and Nehemya Rabin who were immigrants
of the third aliya. When he was still in high school he joined the Palmach,
a part of the Israeli army. He fought in the Independence war as part of the
Palmach. In 1956 Rabin became head of the Northern Command. In 1963 he
became head of the Operations Branch. In 1963 he became assistent cheif of
staff. In 1964 he became the chief of staff during the six day war. His post
ended in 1967 and he became a civillian.
In 1968 Rabin was the ambassador to the US and in 1973 he joined the Labor
Union. In 1974 he was chosen to be a member of the Knesset. Yitzhak Rabin
took over Golda Meir's goverment in 1974 and remained prime minister until
1976 when a political scandal involving an open bank account in the United
States was brought to light.
>From 1977 until 1984 Rabin was from the opposing party in the goverment.
>When
the goverment was unified he became defense minister throughout six years
and two goverments. When the unified goverment dissolved he again became a
member of the opposing party in the Knesset. Then in 1992 the goverment went
through a dramatic change when he became Prime Minister and Defense
Minister.
On September 13, 1993 in Washington, Rabin signed the Oslo agreement. His
words were: "Dai l'dmaot v'l'dam" enough of the blood and tears. Due to this
agreement he received the Nobel Peace Prize. After this, Oslo B was signed
on September 28, 1995. On October 26, 1994 there was an historic peace
signing between Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan.
On November 4, 1995 Rabin attended a peace rally at Kings Square in Tel
Aviv. The slogan of that rally was "ken le'shalom, lo l'alimut." Yes to
peace, no to violence. He sang Shir le'shalom--song for peace that night.
While he was walking to his car from that rally he was shot in the back by a
Jewish man who was opposed to the peace process.
Yitzhak Rabin was a brave man who fought for peace in our country until the
day he died. He was a very special man who dedicated everything to peace. We
all should come together every November and light a candle and promise in
his memory to keep his dream of peace alive.
President Clinton said something in his speech that has very strong meaning
because it has transformed into a very special quote. He said Shalom
Haver--Goodbye My Friend.
Rachel Rothstein