Historical Agreement
ON September 13, 1993, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met at the White House with then-United States President Bill Clinton to witness Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian representative Mahmoud Abbas (who later became President of Palestine & Chairman of the PLO after Arafat’s death in 2004) the signing of a long-awaited and secretly negotiated peace deal that was started in 1991 and completed in Oslo, Norway, in August 1993. Formally called the Declaration of Principles (DOP), colloquially named ‘Oslo I,’ established a framework for peace between the two peoples.
This historical agreement had several major components:
Israeli withdrawal from the Jericho & Gaza Strip, and eventually West Bank
Five Years of Limited Autonomy for those areas
Establishment of Palestinian Police Force
Election of Palestinian Legislative Council within (9) months
This peace accord also put an end to the First Intifada (“shaking off”) which had started in December 1987 after an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) truck collided with a car in Jabalia Refugee Camp killing 4 Palestinian workers & injuring 10. Palestinians in Gaza saw this as a deliberate attack after the previous killing of a Jew in Gaza a few days prior. The intifada was marked by widespread protests, riots, & boycotts throughout the Palestinian-occupied territories of Gaza, the West Bank, & Jericho aiming at establishing an independent state. In 1988, Arafat made moves towards peace with the recognition of Israel’s right to exist, denouncing terrorism/terrorist tactics, & negotiating ‘land for peace’ which provided respite from violence from the Palestinians for land concessions from Israel. With the election of left-leaning Prime Minister Rabin in 1992, the peace process began to progress more leading to the negotiations sponsored by the Norwegian government and led by State Minister Jan Egeland.
Due to this historical agreement, in 1994, Rabin, Arafat, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were awarded jointly the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1995, Israel and Palestine signed the Oslo II Accords, again in Washington DC at the White House, which saw further cementing of Palestinian self-governance and the further pulling back of Israeli troops from the West Bank.
Taking a Risk For Peace
Due to this agreement, however, there was an increase in protest & violence from the more militant Jewish and Palestinian hardliners. National Likud leaders and religious conservatives had seen the giving up of land as a ‘heresy’ that was destroying Jewish land and identity. Future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led a mock funeral procession, which had a coffin and hangman’s noose, at an anti-Rabin rally where ‘Death to Rabin’ was chanted by the crowd. Many Rabbis forbade IDF soldiers from forcing Jewish settlers out of the occupied territories, even going as far as proclaiming din rodef, a Jewish law of self-defense, against Rabin personally. Even though asked to moderate their language, Netanyahu declined and saw no connection between this increase of rhetoric that led to a fateful night in November 1995.
On November 4, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took the stage at a pro-Oslo Accord peace rally at Kings Square in Tel Aviv. Speaking to over 100,000 people, Rabin declared, fatefully:
I always believed that most of the people want peace and are ready to take a risk for it
After finishing his speech, Rabin left the stage, went down some stairs, was greeted by supporters, and started walking to his car. It’s important to note that Rabin had eschewed wearing a bulletproof vest and was not wearing one that night as 25-year-old Yigal Amir stepped out of the crowd and fired two shots into Rabin’s arm and back. Rabin was taken to the hospital where he died later that night during surgery.
Shalom, Haver
Thousands gathered over the next few days to mourn the loss of Rabin and what many began to see, as a major setback to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Leaders from around the world including 80 heads of state flew into Jerusalem for the funeral of Rabin only 2 days later. Rabin’s funeral showed the major steps he had taken toward Israeli peace with the greater Arab world as King Hussein of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt both attended his funeral which would’ve seemed impossible just years prior. King Hussein called Rabin ‘my brother’ which was astounding as that’s normally reserved for fellow Muslims. President Bill Clinton ended his memories of Rabin with, “Shalom, Haver” or “Goodbye, friend.” His funeral seemed to bring fractured world ties & internal politics together, even if just for a moment.
However, for many, this act of violence showed the vast cultural divide in Israeli society between left and right, secular and religious. It also showed the major obstacles to peace that lay for anyone treading that path, from the Islamic & Jewish religious extremism that permeated both societies.
The ‘What Ifs’
One can wonder what the next 27 years would have looked like if the assassin’s bullets had not ended Rabin’s life and he had continued on in the peace process. Would a lasting peace agreement be put in place? Would there have been a more stable transition to an independent country of Palestine?
One can debate the policies that the Oslo Accords put into place and the efficacy of that on a last peace, however, it is hard to argue that Rabin was the very definition of a statesman and that his death was a major blow to both Israel and world.
In the next segment, we will explore the aftermath of his death, the beginning of the Second Intifada, and the rise of the Sharon/Netanyahu Likud party in the 2000s.