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most heretical thought for any Rabin-nik — that
peace may not be attainable.
Since the bloody "independence intifada" began
Sept. 28, much of Israel — and much of the
Western world — also has begun to reappraise the
legacy of the late prime minister, who gambled his
reputation and ultimately his life, on the premise
that Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian people would
be a reliable partner in peace, worth trusting with
land, with economic ties, with arms.
In past years, the anniversary of Rabin's assassi-
nation was focused on how the murder had
impacted the fabric of Israeli society or whether
the religious right had sufficiently grappled with
the fact that the assassin had emerged from their
midst. Nov the debate is even deeper, reviving the
bitter left-right argument over what to do with the
fruits of Israel's victory in the Six-Day War — the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, with their 2.5 million
Palestinians.

'He Was The Worst'

For many; these past weeks represent a saddening
and surprising change. But not for the Israeli right.
For them, the violence only proves the Palestinians
cannot be trusted and that the Oslo process threat-
ens the very existence of the State of Israel. That
Palestinian policemen and militia gunmen have
been firing on Israeli soldiers, on Jewish settle-
ments and even at Gilo, a neighborhood on
Jerusalem's outskirts, is incontrovertible proof that
Rabin's legacy is fatally flawed.
"We helped Arafat set up a militia in the territo-
ries and now he is using it against us," says Yuval
Steinitz, once a strong supporter of Rabin, who
became disillusioned with the Oslo process, moved
over to the right and is now a Likud Knesset mem-
ber.
"I worked to get Rabin elected in 1992," he
recalls, "and I celebrated his election. But the truth
is that he was the worst prime minister we have
had in decades and he is to blame, first and fore-
most, for the present crisis. It's a direct result of
Oslo.
"What's happening today is not so much Barak's
fault," he continued. "Both Netanyahu and Barak
have had to contend with an impossible situation
which they inherited from Rabin."
Not everyone agrees that the core logic driving
the peace accords has actually imploded. The basic
tenets of Oslo — that if Israel is to remain a
Jewish and democratic country it cannot continue
to rule over another people — remain relevant.
Part of that logic, says Zehev Tadmor, chairman of
the Tel Aviv-based Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel
Studies, is that Oslo itself is part of a process,
starting with the Begin-Sadat Camp David summit
in 1978, of the Arab world coming to terms with
Israel's existence.
Oslo, he says, "has brought us to the heart of the
conflict. There are ups and downs. And we do
have difficult neighbors. At the moment we are in
a trough. But anyone who thinks that we can live
in perpetual war for another 100 years, in a global
world which does not want local conflicts, is tak-
ing a big risk."

Cover of the JN, Nov. 10, 1995

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itzhalt Rabin

T

he Michigan/Israel Connection of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
will commemorate the fifth anniversary of
Yitzhak Rabin's assassination with a community-
wide educational program, culminating with a
ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, in the
Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
The Israeli prime minister was assassinated after
a peace rally in Tel Aviv on Nov. 4, 1995.
The ceremony will feature the participation of
various Jewish youth organizations, Israeli songs
and the announcement of the three Rabin Essay
Contest winners. A free 'Concert by Israeli rock
musician David Broza will follow.
For the past several months, Detroit's Jewish
Israeli representatives have facilitated an educa-
tional program at each area supplementary and
Jewish day school. The program emphasizes the
parallel between Israel's history and the life of
Rabin, the issues and dynamics of the peace
process and the issues surrounding Rabin's assassi-
nation. These meetings also have been utilized to
provide background and updates on the situation
in Israel over the past month.
The concert is sponsored by the
Michigan/Israel Connection of the Jewish
Federation and the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit. The essay contest is spon-
sored by the Jewish Federation Women's
Campaign and Education Department.
The Rabin memorial ceremony and concert
are free, but tickets are required. For tickets, call
(248) 645-7878.

But the perception of Rabin's legacy, on the left
and the right, is hardly monolithic.
Yisrael Harel, who lives in the West Bank settle-
ment of Ofra and is a former head of the Yesha
Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria
and the Gaza Strip, has a much more charitable
view than many of his fellow settlers of the Rabin
inheritance. He says Rabin was skeptical of the
Oslo process, and adopted it only after becoming
convinced "that the nation was weak."
"Look at the Gulf War," says Harel. "People fled
Tel Aviv during the Scud missile attacks. They
couldn't take it. So Rabin agreed to the process
almost unwillingly. But he was very realistic and
never fully trusted Arafat. Psychologically, he never
allowed the Palestinians to feel that they could
achieve all of their goals."
On the left, there is also criticism of Rabin, by
those who believe he was overcautious and could
have forged ahead much quicker with the peace
process, exploiting the feelings of hope and recon-
ciliation radiated by both Israelis and Palestinians
in the wake of the signing of the Oslo accords.
In fact, the structure of Oslo, with a five-year
interim agreement before the fundamental issues
like the future of Jerusalem were to be discussed,
gave extremists on both sides ample time to waylay
the process. And they took full advantage — both
the Hamas suicide bombers and Yigal Amir
(Rabin's assassin).
"Rabin was very cautious, but he could have
gone faster," says renowned Israeli author A.B.
Yehoshua. "He was very worried about the reac-
tion of the right, about dismantling settlements.
Yes, he did have only a narrow majority in the
Knesset. But his fear of the security dangers over-
came his diplomatic daring."
Yehoshua argues that the many delays in the
process over the last seven years created the bitter-
ness that fuels the current violence. "It's not
Rabin's legacy that's to blame for the present situa-
tion," Yehoshua said, "but the way in which his
vision has been implemented."

Inflated Hopes

Some of the disenchantment with Oslo among
Israelis stems possibly from Rabin having inflated
the immediate prospects held out by the agree-
ment. By presenting Oslo as a "peace process" to
his people, he raised expectations — almost mes-
sianic in their magnitude — for a final end to all
conflict with the Palestinians.
But Rabin, ever the pragmatist, must have
viewed Oslo as an instrument for reducing the
level of conflict — in essence, an armistice that
would one day lead to the two peoples being able
to really hear each other. But Rabin had to sell the
idea to the public, and "peace" was always going to
be a more compelling political message than "con-
flict reduction."
Yaron Ezrahi, a political science professor at
Hebrew University, says Rabin oversold the process
for political reasons. "Perhaps that was a mistake.
This isn't peace based on love, but the gradual

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