Yitzhak Rabin

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Yitzhak Rabin יִצְחָק רַבִּין
5th Prime Minister of Israel
In office 1974 – 1977 1992 – 1995
Preceded by	Golda Meir Yitzhak Shamir
Succeeded by	Menachem Begin Shimon Peres
Born	March 1, 1922 Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel)
Died	November 4, 1995 (aged 73) Tel Aviv, Israel
Political party	Alignment, Labor Party

For other people named Rabin, see Rabin (disambiguation).

Yitzhak Rabin (help·info) (Hebrew: יִצְחָק רַבִּין), a(March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 until 1977. In 1994 during his second term Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, for their efforts towards peace which culminated in the Oslo Accords. He was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing radical who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. He was the first local-born Prime Minister of Israel, the only Prime Minister to be assassinated and the second to die in office (following Levi Eshkol).

[edit] Youth and service in the Palmach

Rabin was born in Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine. Yitzhak's parents, Nehemiah and Rosa, were Third Aliyah pioneers. Nehemiah Rubitzov, who had been born in a small Ukrainian town in 1886, lost his father when he was only a child and the youngster had to help support the family. When he was 18 years old he went to the United States, where he joined the Poalei Zion (Workers of Zion) Party and also changed his surname to Rabin. In 1917 he went to Palestine with Hagdud Ha’ivri (Jewish Legion) volunteers, determined to settle in Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). Yitzhak's mother, Rosa Cohen, was born in 1890 in Mohilev in White Russia. Her father, a rabbi, was opposed to the Zionist movement. However, he sent Rosa to study at a Christian high school for girls in Homel, exposing her to a wider general education. From an early age she was drawn to revolutionary circles, and was socially and politically active. She arrived in Palestine in 1919 on the ship Rosslan, which is considered the bellwether of the Third Aliyah. She went first to a kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and later to Jerusalem.^[1]

Rabin grew up in Tel Aviv, where his family moved when he was one year old, and in 1940 he graduated with distinction from the Kadoori Agricultural High School. His matriculation was his last formal education, with the exception of some military strategy courses which he later took in the United Kingdom. He aspired to become an irrigation engineer.

In 1941, during his practical training at Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan, Rabin joined the Palmach section of the Haganah, and rose to the position of Chief Operations Officer in October 1947.

In 1948, the year of Israel's independence, Rabin married his wife, Leah.

[edit] IDF service

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he directed Israeli operations in Jerusalem and fought the Egyptian army in the Negev.

In the late 1970s, when Rabin wrote his memoirs in Hebrew, Pinkas Sherut, he described an episode of the 1948 war that had troubled him ever since, the forced expulsion by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of 50,000 Arab Palestinian civilians from the towns of Lod-Ramle. A cabinet committee which checks ministerial memoirs for security leaks ordered that the section be removed and indeed, against Rabin's wishes, it was. The story was revealed by the English translator of the book and published in "The New York Times" (see Yitzhak Rabin, Soldier of Peace - p.26).

Around 1964 he rose to the position of Chief of Staff in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Under his command, the IDF achieved an overwhelming victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967. After the Old City of Jerusalem was captured by the IDF, Rabin was among the first to visit the old city, and then delivered a famous speech on the top of Mount Scopus at the Hebrew University. During the buildup to the war Rabin suffered a nervous breakdown, caused by mounting pressure over his inability to prevent it, and was incapacitated for 48 hours. It has, however, been suggested that his breakdown was a result of nicotin poisoning. His incapacitation was not disclosed to the public, and he resumed full command over the IDF.

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan (center), flanked by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yitzhak Rabin (right) and Major General Uzi Narkiss (left), enter Old Jerusalem in 1967

[edit] Ambassador and Minister of Labor

Following his retirement from the IDF, he became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to the United States beginning in 1968.

In 1973, Yitzhak Rabin wrote to President Gerald Ford: "The announcement that agreement has been obtained facilitating immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel is causing great joy to the people of Israel and to Jewish communities everywhere. This achievement in the field of human rights would not have been possible but for your personal sympathy for the cause involved, for your direct concern and deep interest."

In 1973, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Alignment, and was appointed Minister of Labor.

[edit] First term as Prime Minister

On June 2, 1974, he was elected Party leader and succeeded Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.

This term in office was most famous for Operation Entebbe, in which, on his orders, the IDF rescued passengers of a plane hijacked by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and German's Red Army Faction. Rabin resigned from office after two crises hit him: the arrival of four F-15 jets on Shabbat led to the breaking up of his coalition; and the exposure of a US dollar bank account held by his wife Leah Rabin, an act forbidden at that time by Israeli currency regulators. Rabin took responsibility for his wife's account and resigned from office. Rabin was later hailed by many commentators for his resignation, who said that his resignation was a sign of integrity and responsibility.

[edit] Opposition MP and Minister of Defense

Following his resignation, Likud's Menachem Begin was elected in 1977. Until 1984 Rabin was a member of Knesset and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. These were difficult years for Yitzhak Rabin.

During the years 1984 to 1990 Rabin was a Minister of Defense in several unity governments under prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres. During these years the image of Rabin as "Mister Security" (Mar Bitachon) was strengthened on and beyond the Six Day War and Entebbe Operation.

When he came into office Israeli troops were still stationed deep in Lebanon since the Lebanon War. Rabin had the Israeli troops withdraw to a "Security Zone" on the Lebanese side of the Israeli border. In this area (and little beyond) the South Lebanon Army was active along with the Israeli forces. The withdrawal and "Security Zone" proved initially successful.

When the first Intifada broke out he first enacted harsh measures to break the riots. He was quoted as saying 'We should break their arms and legs'. Rabin ordered troops to "break the bones" of Palestinian demonstrators.

The Israeli army authorities also deliberately pursued a policy of "beating and breaking" against Arab citizens in the cities, villages and camps of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. On 18 January Israeli Minister of Defence Yitzhak Rabin ordered soldiers of the Israeli army operating in the occupied territories to use their truncheons to beat citizens and deliberately to inflict fractures and severe bruises. These Israeli policies and practices led, inter alia, to the killing of 27 male and female citizens and the wounding and injury of hundreds more. With regard to the victims of the "beating and breaking" policy, sources in the occupied territories indicated that 600 Arab citizens of the Gaza Strip were taken to hospital for the treatment of fractures in various parts of their bodies... (UN's received report -DOCUMENT S/19537)

While the intifada continued Rabin's attitude softened and he became more convinced that the solution to the violence should be found around the negotiation table.

From 1990 to 1992 he was an MP and member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee again. This time he used the opposition years to battle for the leadership of his party that Shimon Peres held since 1977.

[edit] Second term as Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993

In 1992 Rabin was elected as chairman of the newly-formed Israeli Labor Party. In the elections that same year his party, strongly focusing on the popularity of its leader, managed to win a clear victory over the Likud of incumbent Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. However the Left bloc in the Knesset won an overall narrow majority, facilitated by the disqualification of small nationalist parties that did not manage to pass the electoral threshold. Rabin formed the first Labor led government in fifteen years, supported by a coalition of left wing parties and Shas, a Mizrahi orthodox religious party.

Rabin played a leading role in the signing of the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority and granted it partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Prior to the signing of the accords, Rabin received a letter from PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel, and on the same day Rabin sent Arafat a letter officially recognizing the PLO on September 9, 1993. (See: Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition.) During this term of office, Rabin also oversaw the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994).

For his role in the creation of the Oslo Accords, Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres. The Accords greatly polarized his image in Israeli society, some seeing him as a hero for advancing the cause of peace and some seeing him as a traitor for giving away land they saw as rightfully belonging to Israel. Some Israelis (especially supporters of the right wing) often blame him for Jewish deaths that they believe have resulted because of the Oslo accords. Also, Rabin's government was kept in office with the tacit support of Arab-Israeli parties in the Knesset.

Rabin was also awarded the 1994 Ronald Reagan Freedom Award by the late President's wife, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The award is only given to "those who have made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide," and who "embody President Reagan's lifelong belief that one man or woman truly can make a difference." ^[2]

[edit] Assassination and aftermath

Main article: Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

The monument at the site of the assassination: Even Gvirol Street between the Tel Aviv City Hall and Gan Ha'ir (in the back)

Yitzhak and Leah Rabin's grave on Mount Herzl

On November 4, 1995, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Orthodox Jewish radical who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords, after attending a rally promoting the Oslo process at Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (which was renamed Yitzhak Rabin Square after his death). Rabin died of massive blood loss and a punctured lung on the operating table at the nearby Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was a shock for the Israeli public, which held rallies and memorials near the place of the assassination, his home, the Knesset and the home of the assassin. Rabin's funeral was attended by many world leaders, among them U.S. president Bill Clinton, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan.

Because of his unexpected death no will was written. However, his last words before he stepped off the stage and down the stairs to what would eventually be his final walking place was the song Shir Lashalom (literally Song for Peace), so this was adopted to be his will. Still to this day, the most famous image about his assassination is the bloodstained sheet of paper with the words of Shir Lashalom on it.

A national memorial day for Rabin is set on his death date, and the square in which he was assassinated was named after him, as well as many streets and public institutions. Yuval Rabin, son of the prime minister, accepted thousands of condolences letters sent to his family, by mail and through a web site that was also used by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

After his assassination, Rabin was turned into a national symbol and became to embody the Israeli peace camp ethos, despite his military career and hawkish political history.

[edit] See also

• List of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
• List of Israel's Chiefs of the General Staff

[edit] Further reading

• Benedikt, Linda: Yitzhak Rabin: The Battle for Peace, ISBN 1-904950-06-X.
• Horovitz, David (editor): Yitzhak Rabin, Soldier of Peace, ISBN 1-55704-287-X
• Kurzman, Dan: Soldier of Peace: The Life of Yitzhak Rabin, ISBN 0-06-018684-4
• Rabin, Leah: Rabin: Our Life, His Legacy, ISBN 0-399-14217-7
• Rabin, Yitzhak: The Rabin Memoirs, ISBN 0-520-20766-1
• Dr. Uri Milstein, The Rabin File, ISBN 965229196-X

[edit] References

• Dromi, Uri (Nov. 5, 2005). "Still craving peace 10 years after Rabin". New Straits Times, p. 20.
• "Israel marks Rabin assassination". (Nov. 5, 2005). BBC.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Yitzhak Rabin

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Yitzhak Rabin

• Memorial biography
• Official government biography
• Yitzhak Rabin Condolence and Memorial Website
• The Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies
• Yitzhak Rabin Web Page
• Yitzhak Rabin profile, Israel news lexicon
• One of the last recorded interviews with Yitzhak Rabin - a six-minute interview with David Esing, recorded one month before his assassination.

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David Ben-Gurion • Moshe Sharett • David Ben-Gurion • Levi Eshkol • Golda Meir • Yitzhak Rabin • Menachem Begin • Yitzhak Shamir • Shimon Peres • Yitzhak Shamir • Yitzhak Rabin • Shimon Peres • Benjamin Netanyahu • Ehud Barak • Ariel Sharon • Ehud Olmert