Yitzhak Rabin: The Last, Best Hope for Peace
Yitzhak Rabin: The Last, Best Hope for Peace?
Brian Hudson
Southern New Hampshire University - HIS 373
April 27, 2014
כ״ו בְּנִיסָן תשע״ד
Yitzhak Rabin: The Last, Best Hope for Peace? It was a hot, summer night; throngs of angry protestors swarmed around the gates of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, chanting slogans denouncing the government, which changed to chants of “Medinat Mistarah” – or, “Police State” in English -- any time the police attempted to quash the protest and expel the masses from the grounds. The air was charged with utter disbelief; protestors felt the sting of their government’s shocking betrayal. The cause? Announcement of the Oslo Accords, or “The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements” (DOP), as it is formally known. This agreement, between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)1 -- headed by arch-enemy Yasser Arafat, a man long considered a terrorist and responsible for unspeakable horrors against Israeli civilians -- represented official recognition by Israel of the PLO, now known as the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Fatah party. Jerusalemites sang the famous “Yerushaliyim Shel Zahav” (Jerusalem of Gold – the victory song of Jerusalem’s reunification, written by Naomi Shemer and made famous by singer Ofra Haza2) while lamenting the eventuality of its lyric’s relevance fading into history. Yet the unbelievable occurred: the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, instantly derailing the momentum towards peace. Subsequent prime ministers have attempted to finish Rabin’s work, and all have failed. With each passing day, the dream of peace slips further away; the death of Rabin constituted the death of Oslo.
To understand the vision of the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993, one must first understand the man whose love of his nation brought him to realize the importance of painful sacrifice to achieve a lasting peace, Israeli Prime Minister
Brian Hudson
Southern New Hampshire University - HIS 373
April 27, 2014
כ״ו בְּנִיסָן תשע״ד
Yitzhak Rabin: The Last, Best Hope for Peace? It was a hot, summer night; throngs of angry protestors swarmed around the gates of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, chanting slogans denouncing the government, which changed to chants of “Medinat Mistarah” – or, “Police State” in English -- any time the police attempted to quash the protest and expel the masses from the grounds. The air was charged with utter disbelief; protestors felt the sting of their government’s shocking betrayal. The cause? Announcement of the Oslo Accords, or “The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements” (DOP), as it is formally known. This agreement, between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)1 -- headed by arch-enemy Yasser Arafat, a man long considered a terrorist and responsible for unspeakable horrors against Israeli civilians -- represented official recognition by Israel of the PLO, now known as the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Fatah party. Jerusalemites sang the famous “Yerushaliyim Shel Zahav” (Jerusalem of Gold – the victory song of Jerusalem’s reunification, written by Naomi Shemer and made famous by singer Ofra Haza2) while lamenting the eventuality of its lyric’s relevance fading into history. Yet the unbelievable occurred: the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, instantly derailing the momentum towards peace. Subsequent prime ministers have attempted to finish Rabin’s work, and all have failed. With each passing day, the dream of peace slips further away; the death of Rabin constituted the death of Oslo.
To understand the vision of the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993, one must first understand the man whose love of his nation brought him to realize the importance of painful sacrifice to achieve a lasting peace, Israeli Prime Minister