The key facts
- Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead in November 1995 at a rally in support of the peace process with Palestine
- In the early 1990s, he signed peace agreements with Yasser Arafat
- The assassination was carried out by radical Jews opposed to recognizing Palestine
The prime minister shot dead at a peace rally
In November 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead during a rally in Tel Aviv held in support of the peace process with Palestine. As Kun.uz recalls, by that time Israel had come very close to recognizing Palestine as an independent state, and Rabin's personal role in this was significant. However, the politician's efforts were opposed by radical Jews, and in the end the prime minister was killed.
The path to agreements with Arafat
In the early 1990s, Rabin, who headed the Israeli government, held negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which resulted in the signing of peace agreements. This step displeased part of the Israeli political establishment and radicals opposed to recognizing Palestine — it was they who set out to eliminate the prime minister. According to the publication, since 1948 Israel has not recognized the Arab state envisaged by the UN resolution and continues to occupy Palestinian lands; over the past decades, Kun.uz claims, the Israeli military forced hundreds of thousands of peaceful Palestinians to leave their homes and killed them.
From soldier to politician
Yitzhak Rabin was born in 1922 — the same year the Ottoman-mandated Palestinian lands came under the British Mandate. After school, he received an education in agriculture, and in 1941 he joined the Palmach, a military structure created by Jews. After the UN resolution on the creation of two states and the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, he took part in combat operations, then continued his military career: in 1964 he became chief of staff and carried out important tasks in the Six-Day War of 1967. In 1968, having received the rank of general, Rabin left the army for politics and served for five years as Israel's ambassador to the United States. In 1974 he became prime minister for the first time and led the country until 1977, served as defense minister in 1984–1990, and after winning the 1992 elections again headed the government.
