Peres: Rabin's vision of peace will be achieved
President Shimon Peres opens ceremony marking 14 years since assassination of former PM Yitzhak Rabin.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Shimon Peres Israel news Yitzhak RabinPresident Shimon Peres on Wednesday opened the ceremony commemorating the 14th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, saying that the former prime minister's vision of peace will not be abandoned.
"The goals bravely sought by Yitzhak, with a bold vision and diplomacy, will not be abandoned," Peres said.
The president added that "even if they are delayed we will achieve his goals."
The state ceremony, held at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, was attended by Rabin family members, ministers, members of Knesset, and students from schools throughout Israel.
"Yitzhak Rabin's candle which has been lit here tonight will not burn out. It is an immortal flame that connects to thousands of candles that were lit in the homes, the squares and the city streets throughout Israel on that dark night," added the president.
Peres also referred to the young people of Israel, who have cemented the night of Rabin's murder in their hearts. "Israel's young generation has kept in their hearts the knowledge that such a despicable murder mustn't ever happen again," he said.
"When the criminal took Yitzhak's life, he intended to extinguish all hope for peace as well, but his plot will not succeed," Peres concluded.
When we began Palestine was one big terror camp
In his speech, Peres referred to his joint work with Rabin over the years, and said that when they first started working together "Palestine was one big terror camp."
"We started with the impossible map in 1947, which became the 1967 borders and only then did we start the negotiation process with the Palestinians," he said.
"After the peace treaty was signed with Jordan, Rabin's followers grew, and are still growing," added the president.
"Peace has many enemies out there, but there are also many skeptics within our own borders," Peres continued.
He added that "Rabin's assassination delayed the entire process and hampered the diplomatic course, but the understanding between us and our neighbors has grown, and its urgency has not changed."
The president added that "it is every Israeli leader's ethical and national duty to invest all their energy and wisdom to clear every obstacle from the path toward peace."
He also said that almost everyone has come to the understanding that peace is the only alternative.
Memorial ceremonies will continue Thursday throughout the country, and the state ceremony is scheduled to take place in Mount Herzl cemetery at noon.
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He was the champion !
I agree with you, Rabin's vision of peace was exactly the same as Bibi's, Peres', Olmert's, Lieberman's, Barak's, Livni's and many others.
Peres,Bibi,olmert,lieberman,Ishai,Barak,the rabbis,Livni,feingold,dan sheutan,and many others are driven by Rabin's vision.
ever notice how peacefull a cemetery is? ever since the criminal Oslo disaster was forced on Israel by Peres and Rabin.over 1200 jewish men women and children were murdered by our peace partners,and they certainly are experiencing the peace of the cemetery
I ask myself what President Peres has in mind when he declares: "the understanding between us and our neighbors has grown". Has it? How so?
...the whole world has heard this pitch for decades, it's hollow, meaningless, and worse, it is self-defeating. Israel's actions have turned the world away, Israel is no longer believed, the news out of the territories defines Israel as an abuser nation, an occupier nation, a colonial nation... Likud's Charter says it all. Forget what the victims say, look to the occupiers words: "The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river."
Too many ignorant people ignore what he said. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1995/10/PM%20Rabin%20in%20Knesset-%20Ratification%20of%20Interim%20Agree "The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines." "A. First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths. B. The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term. C. Changes which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the "Green Line,"
to rain on everybody's sunshine.
Any high school student could say what President Peres says-that peace will be achieved. In today's Jer. Post there is an article that the U.S. is making plans to contain a nuclear-armed Iran,expecting they will get the bomb. If they get the bomb, no level headed person would stay in Israel, if they have the chance to leave. With all due respect for Peres, his words are based on nothing. Which fairy told him this? And so re the U.S. containing an Iran that has the bomb...after all its a sensible country. Wow.
If Yigal Amir wasn't the real killer... who was behind the murder?
What does President Peres intend to do about Netanyahu, Lieberman and Barak?
and settling in Israel,TA including ,are less your enemy than Bibi ?
I can only hope that Bibi do not forget that the Majority of us are craving to live in Pecae with OUR neighbors