Memorial ceremony marks seven years since Rabin's murder

By Daniel Ben Simon, Ha'aretz Correspondent, and Ha'aretz Service

10-17-2002

Speaking at a memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Thursday to mark seven years since her father was assassinated, Labor MK Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff said Yitzhak Rabin's successors had not "followed through" on his legacy.

Rabin's son Yuval said kaddish and President Moshe Katsav, Finance Minister Silvan Shalom were among the speakers at the ceremony. Katsav called on Israelis to stop using the term "Oslo criminals" when referring to leaders who initiated the Oslo accord.

At a special Knesset session in memory of Rabin held later in the day, Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said that "Rabin would have preferred a full refrigerator in the home of a hungry person to an empty caravan in a settlement."

Opposition chairman Yossi Sarid said that the seven bad years since Rabin's murder consumed the good years before it. "Had Rabin lived, he would have told us the truth, he would not have said he had a peace plan without revealing it," Sarid said.

At the end of the session right-wing MKs complained that the meeting was one-sided, with only left-wing speakers. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not attend the session as he is in the United States for meetings with U.S. President George Bush and other U.S. administration officials.

Earlier Thursday, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that had Rabin not been assassinated seven years ago, the Oslo Accords would have led to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"If not for the murder, we would have achieved peace," Peres, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, told Israel Radio.

When asked to recall the early stages of the peace process with the Palestinians, Peres said, "I am reminded by a process that got underway with great difficulty and faced significant opposition."

Peres said that despite the current conflict, the decision to pursue a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was not a mistake, because peace is the only option between for the two peoples.

At a ceremony Wednesday night at the President's Residence marking the anniversary, President Moshe Katsav read a speech from a prepared text in a monotonous tone, reiterating that an entire state has yet to find any rest since the prime minister's murder.

The president warned against the attempt to translate differences in a democratic society into illegal acts. "There must be an unequivocal recognition in the legitimacy of democratic processes, a recognition in the legitimacy of different opinions and positions," he said. "The freedom of expression is not the freedom to incite and act against democracy and foil legal political moves."

Katsav mentioned the fateful decisions still pending, which may determine the state's future. "We must teach and learn the limits of public debate, what is permitted and what is forbidden. We must prevent situations in which words turn into bullets."

Members of the Noar Haoved Vehalomed youth movement waved posters at the entrance to the president's residence, denouncing Rabin's murder.

"The seven bad years," said one of the posters, referring to the era after Rabin's murder.

"Haver [friend], we shall not forget, we shall not forgive," said another placard.

Adi Eldar, chairman of the Union of Local Authorities, said the murderer was punished, but the murder remained an orphan. "Not one finger pulled the trigger," he shouted. "Many fingers pressed the trigger, and there was a clear background to the murder. Those fingers were not punished nor were they put on trial. In another state, they would have had to pay for what they did."

While Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff and Shimon Peres, who had promised to attend Wednesday night's ceremony, were not present, Rabin's family was represented by his son-in-law, Avi Pelossof, his son, Yuval, and his sister, Rachel Ya'akov.

Pelossof criticized the bodyguards and security men for failing to prevent assassin Yigal Amir from carrying out the killing. "It's hard to admit it, but the murderer succeeded in all aspects of his evil plan," said Pelossof.

Many children filled the hall. Some of them, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, read out words in memory of Rabin and lit memorial candles.