As the Knesset convened for a special session on Thursday to mark the 11th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, representatives of the Israeli Arab parties were not in attendence.

Kadima, Labor and Likud issued a joint condemnation, saying "the absence of the Arab party MKs is inappropriate, offensive to their constituency, and expresses disrespect for a ceremony that exemplifies commitment to Israeli democracy."

Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh said the absence of the MKs was an "unfortunate coincidence."

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In his address to Knesset, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert eulogized the slain prime minister as a great leader, saying, "one doesn't have to be a devout follower of Yitzhak Rabin or a member of his ideological camp to esteem his leadership, his immense contribution to the fortification of Israel's security, and his grand achievements as general and statesman."

Recalling a survey reporting that two-thirds of the Israeli public supports pardoning Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, Olmert said "The murderer of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin will never be freed and will never be pardoned."

Olmert called on those who support pardoning Amir, especially from within the religious community, to undergo self-examination and re-evaluate the lessons of the assassination. He added that the memorial day in itself should be considered a day of self-examination.

Earlier Thursday, a state ceremony was held near the slain prime minister's grave at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem.

In his eulogy by his father's grave, the late prime minister's son Yuval said, "if he were alive today, my father would have abandoned all the political considerations and taken it upon himself to save Israel from its troubles."

Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi and lawmakers from across the political spectrum also joined the Rabin family at the ceremony.

President Moshe Katsav, whose presence at a memorial Wednesday led to the absence of many dignitaries, was absent from the ceremony.

Rabin's daughter said she was satisfied with the memorial ceremony in his honor that was held in the President's Residence on Wednesday, even though many public officials stayed away due to the scandal surrounding Katsav, who is under investigation for rape and other offenses.

Only about 20 of the 600 VIPs invited to Wednesday's ceremony ended up attending, including one minister, one chief rabbi and three MKs.

Several public figures cancelled at the last minute, including Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, and ministers Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Avi Dichter and Rafi Eitan.

The paucity of public officials was particularly striking since this is the first year that the government gave the event the status of a state ceremony.

However, overall attendance exceeded last year's. Some 270 people, including dozens of pupils from a Jerusalem school who were invited two days before the event, took part in this year's ceremony, compared to 200 the year before. This year was also the first time that all the Rabin family members attended.

They had previously boycotted the event to protest Katsav's 2001 pardon of Margalit Har-Shefi, a friend of jailed assassin Yigal Amir who was convicted for not reporting what she knew about plans to assassinate Rabin.

The Knesset held a special session Wednesday in honor of Rabin, and schools across the country held their own ceremonies. A week of Jewish textual study and discussions of leadership in honor of Rabin will close Saturday night with a rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.