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100,000 remember Rabin 13 years after assassination By The Associated Press Tens of thousands gathered last night at the square where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, to remember the man and his legacy 13 years after his killing. The square in front of Tel Aviv city hall, now known as Rabin Square, was the site of a peace rally on November 4, 1995. As it ended, Rabin was gunned down by Yigal Amir, an ultra-nationalist opposed of Rabin's policy of trading land to the Palestinians for peace. Advertisement "Yitzhak. You are missed, the country misses you, you are missed by every one of us, but your way has not been lost," said President Shimon Peres, Rabin's partner in peacemaking, who was by his side the night he was assassinated. "Peace is closer than we think, and we should make every effort in his memory to complete it." The official 13th anniversary of Rabin's slaying is tomorrow, the Hebrew date. But the rally in Tel Aviv has become an annual pilgrimage for ordinary citizens to show respect for the beloved leader. Participants filled Rabin Square and spilled over into the surrounding streets, some carrying signs and banners calling for peace and tolerance, others waving flags and lighting candles. Police would not give an exact number, but organizers said more than 100,000 attended the gathering. The rally opened with film footage of Rabin addressing the 1995 rally, thanking participants for coming out to support the theme: No to violence, yes to peace. Facing the large crowd from the same balcony where Rabin spoke 13 years ago, singers sang songs of peace linked to the assassination. Rabin's government negotiated the first interim peace accord with the Palestinians, and he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. His successor as leader of the Labor Party, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, promised to continue in his path. "We have no other country and we have no other way. There is no alternative to peace," he said. Peres called for unity and to heal the divisions in Israeli society. "This is not a warning, it is a request from a Jew, who is not so young anymore, who has seen and experienced difficult moments but also beautiful hours," he said. "It is a request of a man who knows we can recover." Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Rabin's daughter, Dalia, also addressed the crowd. U.S. Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa, on his first visit to Israel, said he brought greetings from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, whom he called a true friend and partner of Israel. One message in the crowd read: "Obama, make peace now!" Hoffa told Dalia Rabin that he too knew the pain of losing a father. He said he learned to love Israel from his father Jimmy Hoffa, the union's most famous leader. "To be a Hoffa is to love Israel," he said. Hoffa, a strong Obama supporter, ended his words by riling the crowd into chanting Obama's campaign slogan: "Yes We Can." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Never again Israel, Germany mark 70 years since the Night of the Broken Glass. Financial freefall Global financial storms threaten empire of Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

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